Toy Box
by Mangascribbler
Summary: The prequel to Broken Toys; welcome to a story of foul play, betrayal, and murder, but also of friendship, trust and new life where one least expects it. Welcome to the story of the birth of Midnight Sun. Welcome to insanity.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello! For those of you who are just beginning the tale of Midnight Sun, welcome! For those who have already read Broken Toys, welcome back! I hope you all enjoy this, but if you want my honest opinion, read Broken Toys first and get attached to the Midnight Sun guild and also enjoy the company of Fairy Tail before coming here, as this is a background story.**

** Thank you all for reading, please feel free to leave comments as you see fit!**

Beginnings, Kind and Cruel

_Yrid, 14 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X769-_

Snow swirled from above, piling against the windowsill as the glass fogged up before large, amazed eyes that reflected the dark sky outside. It hardly ever snowed on the coastal town of Yrid, but on the occasion that it did, all the children were amazed by it. Because they were so close to the equator, the snow never stayed for long, but swept from the nearby mountaintops as it was, for a time it was dry, perfect for playing in.

A young mother watched her son from the doorway, smiling at the way his shifting blue eyes lit up every time the snow on the sill collapsed. He pressed his fingers to the window, and drew a smiling face. Standing up he went to the door and stared wistfully at the handle.

"Wish," Starla Moore chided, "stand away from the door or you'll get knocked over when your father comes home from the guild," the small boy nodded, and Starla gazed at him a bit worriedly. He was six years old as of today and he had yet to speak a word.

He communicated his needs and wants perfectly, he could tie his shoes, he washed the dishes with her, he seemed to have above-average intelligence, but he didn't talk, not a single word. The city physician said that he might be mute, but Starla didn't want to think that her only baby would never have a voice.

"Do you know what today is?" the boy's mother asked with a small half smile.

The brown curly hair tousled on the child's head as he nodded. He turned to the window and drew a crude drawing of a cake with candles in the condensation. He looked to her, seeking praise.

"That's right!" Wish's mother said happily, "Your birthday. When your father comes home we can have dinner and cake, how does that sound?"

Wish smiled and nodded vigorously, the shiny brown curls flipping about. He ran to the door and tripped on his overlong pant leg. He sat up, rubbing his chin, and then stood, struggling to reach the brass knob set into the wood above his head.

His mother laughed.

"No dear, father has to come _here, _not we go to the guild. I'm sure he's on his way now," she giggled, watching as her cute son pouted and crossed his arms. "We can go visit Shade and Shine tomorrow if you're good."

Wish stared at her with wide eyes and plopped onto the floor, hands folded, sitting up straight and patiently waiting beside the door.

At that moment, the door swung open into the warm fire lit room, snow swirling over the wooden floors as Wish's father entered tiredly, but with a smile and a gift for his son.

"Happy birthday, kid!" His father, Nighter Moore cried, scooping up the little boy and tossing him lightly in the air. Wish held his arms out like a airplane and shrieked with laughter.

"Ooooh… don't drop him!" Starla fretted, watching with worry evident on her face.

"Eh, even if he falls on his head, he could stand to lose a few brain cells… kidding, kidding!" the man cried as his wife growled. Father and son looked extraordinarily alike, tousled brown hair, shifty blue eyes, right down to the mild fear of the woman in front of them reflecting in their eyes.

"Alright," she sighed, "alright."

The pair grinned at each other, and Nighter tossed Wish onto the couch in the living room, the little boy squealing as his father tickled him.

"Here," his father said, handing a package to the boy, "It's for you."

Wish stripped the paper off eagerly, and opened the box inside to reveal a glass orb with a lotus blossom inside. As he watched, the flower closed up and shrank back into a seed before it grew into a flower again, withering and falling apart… the petals zoomed back together and resumed into a seed. The little boy watched fascinated by the flow of time inside the orb.

He held the ball out to his father in wonder.

"It's magic," the man said gently. He stood and waved Wish into the kitchen for cake, but the boy was utterly entranced by the orb. He set it on the table and enjoyed the cake, but his eyes never left the beautiful lotus.

It happened suddenly, and the orb rolled over the corner of the table when Wish's elbow bumped it. Starla cried out in dismay as the orb careened toward the wood. Her poor little boy's heart would be broken for at least a week!

Her alarm was unnecessary, however. Wish threw out his hands and narrowed violet eyes in concentration. The glass ball stopped a foot from the ground.

"What….?" His mother wondered aloud, and she tried reaching for the ball. When her hand came within two inches of it however, her fingers froze as if in suspended animation. "What is this?" she asked.

Wish reached forward and allowed the magic sphere to fall into his hands with a sigh.

"Magic," he said matter-of-factly, and with that, he left his mother gaping in the kitchen and went to play further with his new discovery.

…..

A few hundred miles away, in the slums of Onibus, another boy of about the same age as Wish Moore, though he didn't know his birthday, was much less fortunate. He lay face down in the gutters, wearing nothing but a pair of ragged shorts, his bruised skin exposed to the chill of the night as the sun set. His ribs were easily visible and there was a starved look to more than his body, there was a near-crazed look in his eyes as well.

He heaved himself up onto a cracked bit of pavement and looked sadly at the three jewels in the bottom of the cup he used to beg. Multicolored eyes changed from sorrowful to angry, and the boy resented the bastards who refused to help him. No, not him, _he _wasn't the one who needed the money. It was all for someone else.

"Spare change?" he asked as a woman passed by. She didn't answer, so he gripped her skirts weakly with one hand. She hissed and kicked him into the street, sending his three jewels scattering. He picked them up off the road and wiped blood off his elbow, glaring at the retreating back of the woman.

"Ass hole," he muttered. It wasn't uncommon for such a young child to use such language. Not here anyways. The boy began his trek home, dutifully avoiding broken glass with his bare feet. She got angry if he hurt himself, though he didn't really understand why.

"I'm home," the boy said softly into the darkness as he pushed aside a leather flap that served as a door to the hovel he lived in. The windows were drawn shut, and a small fire was there, but the pervading damp refused to leave the small wooden building that was formed in a dark back alley.

A figure shifted under a blanket on the couch, the only piece of furniture aside from a small square table and two chairs.

"Aroata?" the hoarse voice of a woman asked into the shadows as the flap swung closed.

"Yeah," the gentle reply came, "But just call me Arrow, everyone else does."

"By 'everyone else' you mean Bora?" The woman sat up against the arm of the couch, unhealthy black hair falling over her face. Aroata came closer and gazed up at his mother. Her high cheekbones and wide eyes were mirrored in his visage, and the taut, tanned skin that seemed ageless was there in both of them. The woman ran her hand through her son's dirty bronze hair and gazed into his ringlet eyes.

"Other people call me Arrow too, like Ari! It's easier then Aroata Mielus!"

"So much like your father…" his mother sighed, "Did you use the money I gave you for your dinner?" she asked. Aroata Jax dropped his gaze and shuffled his feet.

"No…" he murmured.

"What?" his mother could not muster enough energy to be angry, "What happened to it then?"

Aroata dug into his pockets and pulled out a small bottle of cough syrup, handing it her. She smiled, tears in her eyes, for she knew that no medicine could cure her illness. Her poor, thoughtful, lovely little boy, so much like his late father….

"Thank you," she whispered. She placed the bottle down and reached up to her neck, unclasping a chain that held a bronze key. "You see the small box over there?" she pointed out a safe, "Bring it here."

Aroata complied, confused. The woman opened the safe and drew out a long, thin, bronze-crafted container about the length of Aroata's forearm.

"Here is the key, and here is the treasure. Only take the treasure when you _cannot _survive any longer, and keep it with you always. Now be good and go to bed. I love you, my darling Aroata Mielus Jax."

"I love you too… and just Arrow, Mom. You shouldn't talk more than you need to." Aroata replied brokenly, for even a young one such as himself could see the weakness the disease had wrought in her.

The woman watched as he curled up on a rough, patched blanket on the floor behind the couch and close to the embers she had stoked, arms wrapped around the box she had gifted him with.

With a sad smile, she picked up the bottle of cough medicine, and unscrewed the lid, going to take some for the sake of her child, even if it would only prolong her life by a few days, and thus prolonging her agony.

She tipped her head back to take the medication, but was wracked with a sudden bout of coughing that choked her, cutting off her oxygen. She wheezed for air, but found none, as if the room were full of carbon monoxide. She flopped limply on her side, gasping. Her vision began to fade, and she knew her life was at an end, however desperately she had clung to it for her boy.

"Aroata… Mielus… Jax…. my…. beautiful….baby…" she struggled for breath, and a thousand thoughts, a thousand apologies, raced through her head.

_I'm sorry I couldn't give you a better life, I'm sorry I couldn't hold on for you, I'm sorry I have to leave you alone, I'm sorry that you'll be by yourself…._

_ I'm sorry I wasn't good enough to stay by you until you were able to survive on your own._

_ I'm sorry that because of my weakness you'll probably die here in the slums before you turn seven._

_ I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry._

Her dark eyes fell closed, and the cough syrup leaked over the floor, staining the earth pink. Aroata slept on, oblivious to the tragedy he was going to endure, conquer, forget about, recall, regret, and kill for in years to come.

He slept on without a care in the world, his final night as an innocent boy.

….

Aroata opened his eyes and came around the edge of the couch. His mother lay there, beneath her blanket. She was still asleep, so he took his little cup and left the house to make his daily panhandling rounds, though he had little hope. There were too many beggars and not enough kind people with money to share.

He glanced back and wished his mother a good sleep, telling her that he would be home soon, unaware then, that something was amiss.

…..

The boy returned home, downtrodden, bruised, and starving at twilight. Twilight was said to be the hour of lost souls, the hour the sky turned red with the blood spilled by murder victims and those who died too young.

His mother was in the same position he had left her in this morning.

Approaching her, he tapped her hand tentatively, wishing to tell her that he had not made any money for the day, and that he was sorry, but she was cold.

Cold and pale, just like the dead man he had once found rotting at the end of their alley, his festering flesh dropping maggots.

He pressed his hand against her throat just like his mother had done a long time ago to the sick people that came to their home before his mother had gotten so ill. She had given them medicine and stitched them up, but in the end she couldn't fix herself. He blamed those people for his mothers' disease. He felt for the 'knocking of a heartbeat' against her throat as his mother had once taught him to do, and felt nothing. Just cold flesh.

He tried every which way to seek a pulse, and in desperation he placed a small hand over her mouth.

No breath. He didn't know anyone who didn't _breathe_.

And then he knew it, and though he had seen the dead, though death was not an uncommon thing here in the dark half of Onibus, it was different when it was close, different when death stared at you from inside a loved one.

From inside your _only _loved one.

His thoughts were slow to catch up with his mouth; he was screaming before he fully comprehended it.

She

Was

Dead.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here is the second chapter, guys! Thanks for the reviews I got on the first chappie, and I hope you enjoy this chappie as well. :3**

Dusk

His face perfectly blank, Aroata stood outside the shack he had lived in up until now, staring at the flap that covered the door. Inside, people like he and his mother, without a penny to their names, were ransacking his home, ignoring his mother's body. He had tried to salvage what he could, but he had been thrown outside like the little bastard child he was. The only thing he had managed to save was the long box and the key he had been given the night before, the key around his neck and the box tucked beneath his arm.

He had broken fingers for the box he held, and he had a feeling that much more would be lost for whatever was inside, almost as if the contents demanded tribute. He wanted to feel sad, he wanted to cry for his mother, but he was dead inside. No emotion welled up inside him, and he wiped blood off his chin as he turned away from the flap, leaving his mother behind.

That was the day he decided he didn't need useless things.

…..

_Hargeon, 14 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X769-_

"Finny," a small, pale, white blonde girl whined, "give it back!"

"No," the older blonde, one with ochre skin and darker hair, snapped, "I'm hungry! You're small, you can live off smaller portions!"

"Finny, give the bread back to Kelra," the oldest girl there commanded. She had dark hair, the same ochre skin as the middle girl, and gray eyes to match the other two. Leaning back against a white-washed wall, one eye open as she gave an annoyed glare to her younger sibling, she motioned with one hand for the other girl to return the food.

"Pierra…." Finny complained, handing back the roll disappointedly. She was tall for her age, six years old and already a head above everyone else of her year. She was lanky but cute, and she folded her hands behind her head with a pout, eyes on the gleaming beacon that was the sun setting into the ocean.

"No buts," Pierra said, closing her eyes again, "You already ate your share."

Finny and Kelra were being raised by their older half-sister Pierra in the town of Hargeon, approximately 1,000 miles from Yrid where the sisters would end up in a few years, not that they were aware quite yet.

"Sunset is a sad time," Kelra, the youngest, at four years old said out of the blue, slowly chewing her sweet roll.

"Oh?" Pierra asked her, standing up exhaustedly and brushing off the back of her skirt.

"Yeah… cause then it's night, and night is dark and scary," the little girl sighed.

"It's not always dark," Finny told her, "Because we have the moon."

"I guess… but I still feel sad,"

"Alright, whatever, let's go home guys," Pierra commanded, grabbing hold of each of their hands to cross the road.

Kelra couldn't help but look back at the sea, Finny glancing back with her, and for an instant the girl's heart gave a twinge of sorrow for seemingly no reason at all.

…..

_Yrid,_ _14_ _years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X769-_

Two girls, as eerily alike as they were different, stood on a street corner in Yrid, holding hands as they waited for a chance to cross the street. One was pale with almond shaped brown eyes and black hair twisted up into a ponytail, clad in a black jacket trimmed in red that reached her knees, black boots covering exposed skin. In her black mitted fingers she held a white mitted hand that belonged to her sister, who was dressed the same but in the opposite color scheme. The other girl had dark skin, wide eyes that were so dark brown they were nearly black, and short, dark hair that reached her chin. In years to come they would trade hairstyles, becoming the owners of the Azriel Spear and the Gabriel Bow.

Behind the two five year olds stood a woman in glasses, a crimson coat, and boots, blowing on her cold fingers as the three waited bend.

"Shade, Shine, stay away from the edge of the street," she told the girls.

"But we're not in the street," Shine said.

"Ice can make four-wheelers slide off the road, so come over here," the woman, their mother, instructed. Rather, the mother of Shade, and one of the adopted parents of Shine.

The two girls approached her and buried themselves in her skirts. The street signal changed to pedestrian friendly, and the three crossed.

"Are we almost there?" Shade asked, looking up at Eileen Ward. Shine said nothing, but the mother could see the question reflected in her eyes.

"Nearly," she replied, "Be patient."

They turned around another corner and stepped in front of a cute wooden house with snow stacked against the windowsill. The grass was frosted white and a couple of icicles hung off the roof.

Shade and Shine each raised a hand to knock on the door, arms linked as the pair clung to each other like two flowers off the same stem. As their knuckles cracked against the wood simultaneously, there was a soft flump from behind them, and they turned to see their tousle haired, blue eyed friend picking himself up out of the snow.

"Wish!" Eileen cried in shock, "You shouldn't have been up on the roof!"

The boy shrugged absently and turned to silently greet his friends, but grunted in surprise as he was tackled to the ground by the two excited girls, grinning happily and still holding close to one other. The boy smiled at them.

"Wish!" Shade giggled, "Did you fall from the sky like a snowflake?"

The boy smiled and shook his head.

"Did you fly like a bird?" Shine asked with a laugh.

Another negative movement of the head. The door popped open behind them, and the three turned.

"Wish Moore! I told you not to go up on the roof! You fell off, didn't you?" Starla shouted. Eileen walked over to her friend, reassuring her that the boy was okay as Wish stared at his feet in shame. The woman shook her head and turned to lead Shade and Shine's mother inside.

"You three behave! Anyone gets hurt and you're all going to be in trouble!" the overprotective mother Starla called. The trio nodded, their noses red and their faces seen through the pall that their breath left on the air.

Shade bent and scooped up a handful of snow, forming it into a ball the instant the parents disappeared. She threw the lose ice crystals a Wish, knowing he would never tattle like other kids, and grinned, partly in good natured amusement and partly in wicked anticipation of the immanent snowball fight to come.

To her surprise, Wish flicked his wrist, and the snowball froze in midair.

"Magic," he said. His voice was soft and gentle, but clearly audible. The unidentical twins grinned widely, still holding hands. Shade raised her right hand while Shine raised her left, and in the same instant they were seen to be holding balls of fire, white in Shine's mitt and black in Shade's.

"Magic," the pair agreed in unison.

Three children smiled in the snow.

….

_Onibus, 14 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X769-_

Aroata squinted in the dark back alley, squatting on his heels in the shadows. He didn't sit. You only sat when you were sure, absolutely _positive,_ you had nothing to run from.

Unfortunately, that was never.

Aroata wiggled a brick out of place behind him and checked that his box was still there. It was.

The bronze key was icy cold against his bare chest. As icy as his mother's flesh.

He wanted to know what was in the box, but he refrained from opening it. He was not about to die. Hungry, yes, but he could get by on scraps and filched bread. He replaced the brick.

Rising to his feet, the young boy glanced around suspiciously. A can clanked at the end of the street, and Aroata bared his teeth, prepared to fight, but it was only a tom cat, one that hissed at him from the top of the trash can. He shouted at it and kicked the can over, causing the cat to leap down and fluff out its tail. The boy kicked at the cat.

He had learned something here. At the top were grown-ups. They had the power to kill. Below them, and therefore worthless, were the Weak. The Weak were anyone who couldn't hold their own against grown-ups, like sick people and children. Everyone below the grown-ups was worthless.

Therefore, he was nothing.

But the same thing applied to the Weak like him. He could fight, and he could survive, so he was strong as far as the Weak went. But anything below his level was worthless.

Therefore, all life below his was nothing.

The cat was nothing.

He yelled again and this time his bare foot hit the hungry cat in the side. It went flying, legs flailing in the air as it hit a wall, landing in a clogged gutter. It mewled piteously as it picked itself up, and Aroata laughed at it. He needed to, for what else could he do now? He was angry, _so angry_ that his mother had died, that his father had died, that he had to fight to live and maybe even fight to die. He needed something to take that rage, and the cat was small enough to serve that purpose.

"My my, quite a mean streak I see," a reedy voice sneered from behind the small, dark boy. His bronze hair whipped his face as he lashed out, turning on heel to face the new comer. A man, a grown-up, with ferret features. He was tall, of average build, with slanted, cruel eyes that gleamed green, wiry strength and Araota had the instinctive feel that this man was mercilessly vindictive. The man leaned against the wall at the entrance to the alleyway.

"Who're you?" Araoata spat, mustering as much venom as he could into those two words.

"Me?" the man asked innocently. The boy took notice of the man's clothing. Simple, and not the finest quality, but clean and well cared for. "My name's Wild. That's all; just Wild. And I'm your new 'guardian',"

As he said this, he smiled a wicked smile that revealed two rows of small, pointed teeth in his mouth. The grin was malicious, and suddenly Aroata knew that he couldn't fight against this man, this 'Wild' and win, or even die, because he was a Weak, and Wild was a master of inflicting pain without killing.

The boy could see it in the man's eyes.

"Guardian?" Aroata asked, the bite in his voice there, but diminished, as it took all of his willpower not to tremble as he lost himself in those evil, deep green eyes.

"Yeah… a replacement for your mother, if you will," Wild answered smoothly, "Do you know what that means?"

"No one could replace-"

Wild slipped forward and gripped Araota's hair tightly in one fist.

"It means you're mine. Your mine to do what I want with, and lucky for you I don't go for scrappy little runts like you unless they're weepy little girls." Wild snarled.

Aroata didn't know what he meant by 'go for', but he didn't like it.

"So I figure you'll just be there to do what I tell you to, and to let me beat you when I'm in the mood for violence, understand?"

"I won't- I won't-…." Aroata struggled violently in the elder man's grasp, whipping back and forth like a dying fish on the end of a line. A sudden blow to the chest sent the boy reeling from the sudden lack of air. He was then picked up like a rag doll, and Wild began to walk away with him, taking him God-knew-where.

"Don't worry," Wild sighed, "Your spirit will break soon enough, and then you won't have anything to worry about."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Well, I was hoping I'd get more of a response with this story, but this is cool too! Thanks to SenbeiXCup Ramen and MANGA1 for reviewing! Loves! **

**:D**

New Life

_Hargeon, 14 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X769-_

Finny sat on the edge of the pier, waves crashing wildly beneath her, buoys bobbing recklessly on the white water. A few clawed seals frolicked in the troughs and rode the waves, and Finny's eyes were drawn to them as she smiled at their antics.

She took a bite of the cheese she held in her hand and then ripped a piece off, tossing it into pod of animals below, giggling when there was a great amount of splashing to reach the morsel of food.

She looked at the cheese in her hand and sighed. She loved her sister, but being raised without parents was hard. Pierra worked all day just to have enough money for rent, plain clothing that wasn't the best quality, and plain food. Finny wasn't complaining, no, she knew some had things much worse, but some of the other girls who lived in huge mansions…. They noticed things like that. And they picked on her.

Finny stretched out a hand over the water and concentrated. A small whirlpool was formed when she twisted her fingers. Finny Wake, goddess of the sea; that was her small solace, that she could do things others couldn't.

She heard a _thunk_ on the wooden pier boards behind her, and she jerked her hand back, causing the swirling water to return to waves.

"Well well, if it isn't little Finny the pauper," a domineering voice said from behind. Finny turned her head to the side, peering at the new comers out of the corner of her eye.

"Rena Melmeth and goons a through d, how nice of you to join me," Finny said coldly, mocking the stuck-up 'noble's' speech. Rena sneered.

"Of course a poor gutter-rat like you is too dumb to remember my friends' names," she shot back.

"No, I just have no desire to memorize the long, tedious titles of ugly people like you," Finny's voice had become like ice.

"Oh yeah?" Rena shouted. As if on cue the girls rushed forward and began hitting Finny, pushing her around, "A poor thing like you should have been culled! It's better to let the penniless die peacefully so they don't have to suffer starving to death!"

"Pierra-nee works hard so we have enough food!" Finny shrieked furiously while warding off blows.

"Work is for those who are meant to serve the pureblooded intelligent!"

They traded sallies like this for a while as Finny got more and more bruised. She hated Rena and the girl's family. They thought having money and 'blue blood', whatever that meant (Finny knew for a fact Rena's blood was red, she had split her antagonists lip once).

And suddenly Finny was knocked to the edge of the pier by a too-violent shove, she rolled over the side, and fell down, spiraling, into the fathomless waters below, the sound of screaming in her ears as Rena's crew panicked.

Finny thrashed around. She was an excellent swimmer, aided by her control over the waves, but she couldn't find the surface. Blowing bubbles, she followed their progress to the realm of oxygen. Already her small lungs were burning as were her eyes in the salty water. She was near the surface…. _Clang_.

Her head had collided horribly with a buoy, and she was knocked nearly senseless. She lost control over her body and her control on the waves that had been pushing her forward. Her lungs seemed about to burst, so she exhaled.

Water was drawn deep into her lungs, and she felt she must die.

Finny blinked in shock. She had drawn in water… but felt the relief brought by air. She laughed in the depths, realizing that her control on water went much deeper than manipulating shape. Water belonged to her very soul.

Realizing what an asset this was, she decided to give Rena a scare and sit unseen in the water for a long time. No, better, she would allow herself to float face down in the water for minutes on end until the girls panicked… and then presto, scare the crap out of them when a dead girl returned to life.

Finny smiled and drew another breath, relishing the salty taste, and relaxed, rising with the bubbles to the surface.

…

Rena stared over the jetty edge with the rest, searching desperately for the girl she had so teased. It had already been nearly three minutes since she had submerged, and no one had spotted her.

Truthfully, Rena was quite jealous of Finny. The blonde didn't have to sit through etiquette classes, she didn't have to learn how to manage a company at the age of six, and she certainly had a family that loved her rather than ignored her.

One of the girls on the end screamed.

There, far below the quay, a pale body rose. Blonde, and clothed in sandals and the blue homemade sundress Finny had been wearing, it was unmistakably their quarry. The girl floated lifelessly on the tide, limp and face down.

The girls on the dock exchanged teary glances. They hadn't meant to _kill _her!

At that moment, Pierra walked by with Kelra. Pierra, knowing that this was the same group that so terrorized her sibling, came to a halt, placing the hand that wasn't holding onto Kelra's fingers on her hip.

"What are you lot doing here?" she asked, walking over to them and pulling the youngest of the Wake sisters along. She happened to look over the edge.

Pierra fell to her knees and covered her mouth, nearly dragging Kelra to the ground with her.

"We didn't mean it!" Rena screamed, "We didn't mean to… to…" the little girl erupted into tears. Pierra ignored her and ran around the pier to the shoreline below. She let go of Kelra and jumped into the water, swimming faster than she had ever before until she reached her sister.

She grabbed Finny around the waist and hauled her onto the wet sand.

Finny, who had her eyes closed, continued to play dead, as of yet unsure of who had pulled her out of the brine. She giggled internally, wanting desperately to open her eyes to see the look of fear in the faces of Rena and the others. She heard sobbing… not Rena's, but someone else's. She found herself being pulled close to a warm body wracked with tears, grief shaking the whole body frame.

Finny opened her eyes.

"Pierra?" She asked, confused. The oldest sister jerked Finny away from her in shock, staring, but not believing.

"Finny," she gasped.

"Pierra, I was just fooling around, I found out a new way to use my magic-"

SLAP

"You _fool_!" Pierra shouted while Finny held her raw cheek in surprise, "You complete and utter _fool_!"

Finny found herself wrapped in Pierra's arms, and Kelra joined from the outside, crying even though the young girl had no idea what was going on.

"I'm sorry," Finny wept, finally realizing the cruelty of her trick, "I'm sorry! I… just wanted to use my magic! I wanted to use my magic so I can grow up and join a guild and make it so you never have to work so hard again one-chan!"

"You don't have to try so hard," Pierra said, wiping her eyes, "I work because I love you."

"I _will _work because I love you," Finny said firmly through her tears with the unnatural conviction only those as hopeful as a six year old can manage, "I'll make it into a guild. I will."

_Magic_

…..

_Onibus, 14 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X769-_

"So your name is Aroata Mielus Jax," Wild said, slumping down on a couch that was bent in the middle and slightly moldy on one arm. He was the higher end of poverty there in the slums of Onibus. The boy stood before him, straight-backed and bruised.

"Arrow," he said stiffly.

"What?"

"My name is Arrow," self-proclaimed Arrow repeated.

"You're not sharp enough to be an arrow," Wild said this cuttingly, but the boy didn't even flinch, "Your new name will be Target. Yes, to me you're a moving target, just a living _punching bag_."

The emphasis on the last two words was punctuated with the hollow thud one can only produce with a blow to the chest. Wild had kicked Arrow halfway across the moldering rug. The boy picked himself up slowly as Wild walked over. A booted foot was ground into his exposed spine, crushing him into the floor.

Arrow glared violently at Wild. The man grinned.

"Don't worry," he said softly, "Your spirit will be broken in due time. I'll eke out every bit of suffering I can from you before you turn into a soulless, husked out image of what you could have been, and then I'll kill you and feed you to the stray dogs, _Target_."

Wild removed his foot from the boy and walked away, evidently thinking that he had won that fight.

Arrow stood and spat, the thick glob landing beside Wild's boot.

The man halted.

He turned.

Arrow took a fighting stance.

It happened fast, so fast it was like a flash of lightning. Wild's fist crashed across Arrow's face like a force of nature, flinging him into a wall where he bounced off and landed face down. Wild grabbed a flexible green branch as thick around as Arrow's wrist, and brought whistling down onto the boy's limp form.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Arrow lost count of the blows as he drifted between consciousness and peaceful sleep, between pain and relief, between life and death.

At last he slipped into oblivion, the crack of the branch ringing in his ears.

…

Wild gazed at his handiwork. The boy was hardly recognizably human. One of his eyes was swollen shut and blackening, the corner of his mouth bled, and his whole back was crisscrossed with bleeding stripes, ones that would heal in white scars that would stand against his dark skin.

Wild put the branch down and rubbed his chin.

He would have to be careful not to _kill _the boy. Everyone knew he beat his pets and his boys and even sometimes his girls, but he had killed the last boy he had kept for venting purposes, and if it happened again, he was sure that the people around him wouldn't be so lenient.

He smiled as a particularly cruel thought came to mind.

He draped a blanket over Arrow's body in a 'kind' act.

When the boy woke up, the blanket would be stuck to his scabs.

Nothing to do but rip it off, right? Like a band-aid.

Nothing to do but tear.

Wild turned away and plucked a cigarette out of his pocket, lighting it and wedging it between his teeth.

He drew a long puff on the cigarette.

It had been a long time since he had felt this good.

He flicked the smoldering cinders at Arrow and watched as the burning spark extinguished itself on the boy's flesh, burning ash into his skin.

Yeah, Wild felt real good.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I really apologize to those who missed the chapter on Saturday! My dad took my laptop on a business trip and I couldn't write for five whole days! I'm really sorry! I hope this makes up for it!**

** Please review :)**

Survival

_Onibus, 13 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X770-_

Arrow stood in a gray, long-sleeved turtleneck sweater with the sleeves draping over his cold fingers as he held the large box Wild had purchased, full of alcohol, cigarettes, and the like. The turtleneck was warm, yes, but it wasn't out of charity that he had been given it; Wild didn't want anyone to see the scars, burns and bleeding sores left on the boy's body. Arrow wore the same ripped up pants as before, tied around his bony waist with a dirty rope. The pants were too long and covered his feet except for his toes. He was fine without shoes; in fact, he didn't like shoes. They constricted his motions and made it difficult to run.

He walked three paces behind Wild, as instructed, almost habitually. Anytime he broke this rule he got smacked across the face so hard he almost always bit his own cheek. A few of his teeth had fallen out, but he didn't know if that was because of Wild's beatings or because it was just his baby teeth.

All around him whispers rustled like wind in the trees.

"Poor boy…"

"Wild's boy? Poor thing,"

"Another one? The last one died I heard,"

"He looks so frail…"

"I'm shocked he survived the year. Bet he won't make it 'till summer,"

"Of course he won't last until summer, it's _Wild _we're talking about,"

"Poor thing,"

"Poor thing,"

"Poor _thing_,"

Arrow seethed with fury, his feet scuffing across the stone walkways. _Poor thing_, they said, but they did nothing, _nothing _to help him.

_Damn them,_ he thought viciously. It had already been nearly half a year; it was now mid to late spring and the weather was warming up. Though he spent so much time incapacitated and unconscious that it hardly mattered. His body was so scarred up it was hard to look at himself in the mirror that Wild kept.

Seven years old and he looked like a whipped dog.

Arrow… Target now, had lived in Hell since his mother's death. He held on to nothing worthless, and that included life.

Wild did not allow him to die.

Knowing that, Arrow began to fight back until he clung to his life out of sheer _spite_, living even when Wild was prepared to kill him. It displeased Wild that Arrow's soul remained unbroken.

"Keep up, Target!" Wild snarled, flicked the ashes of his cigarette into Arrow's face. The boy walked a bit faster, and they reached Wild's house in due time.

"Clean," the man commanded, and Arrow begrudgingly complied, "I have someone coming over today, and I don't want you screwing it up."

"Yes," Arrow gritted out. The boy already knew who was coming over. Another damn _whore _that Wild would hole up with for a while, and Arrow would be subject to the torture of hearing them do… things.

Whatever Wild did to the women he brought home, Arrow decided he didn't like it. The younger girls screamed and cried. It physically pained Arrow to hear them.

Often when Wild was with his women, Arrow would sneak out and wait until he could wait no more before returning. Today, however, that didn't seem to be the scenario that would be playing out.

Wild walked in with a woman that had boobs at _least _the size of her own head. Arrow looked at them, not in a perverted manner as he was far too young to have thoughts geared in that direction, but more wondering how such a small woman could support such large breasts and not fall over. He crept out from kitchen, staring at Wild and his companion from the shadows.

"Oh…." The woman sneered as she caught sight of the boy, "I didn't know you had a son,"

"He's not my son," Wild replied with a smile, "He's my punching bag."

"Oh?"

"You want to see?" Wild asked her, his wicked grin widening into a mask of evil pleasure, "It would be a nice prelude to our evening together, no?"

"Kill the brat," she said dismissively, as if she thought Wild was bluffing; Arrow knew better, "give him as much pain as you think he can take."

Arrow's eyes widened with fear as Wild approached. This time wouldn't just be a beating and Arrow knew it. So did the woman.

Wild picked up the stick he usually used to lash Arrow and started forward again. Arrow tried to scramble away but was unable to as Wild snatched him by the back of his shirt and dragged him back.

The first blow landed in Arrow's stomach, and the boy doubled over, but did not cry out or fall.

He smiled.

If he cried when Wild beat him it just agitated the man even more, so now, in the face of adversity and pain, Arrow smiled a crazed, lilting grin that made him look about as insane as he felt as his grip on the world fell away.

He was struck again and again, but he smiled anyways.

Wild's hits got harder, and Arrow was knocked into a wall. His head struck the corner of the desk and he began to bleed from a cut on his scalp. His bronze hair turned copper-red as blood flowed down the boy's face.

His lip had split again, and he licked the blood off before baring his teeth in that twisted smirk.

_Hit me again,_ it said, _Do it. See if I care. See if you can make me stop smiling._

Blow after blow fell on Arrow, and eventually he was reduced to laying face down on the thin rug, blood soaking into the carpet beneath him.

The woman shrieked with laughter.

"Stop ruining my carpet," Wild growled, kicking Arrow over. The boy remained limp, no breath exiting him. Wild assumed he was dead. "Damn it all, I've killed the little shit. Whatever, I'll clean up later."

The pair turned away and walked deeper into the house.

Arrow picked himself up.

As he was lying on the ground, he had felt something against his chest.

His key.

The key to the box.

_Only take the treasure when you cannot survive any longer, and keep it with you always._

Survival.

Aroata Mielus Jax went to go find the box he had hidden in the wall so long ago, dragging his leg behind him as he found it to be broken, or at least fractured. His sweater was covered in blood, and he could barely see, but on he went.

He could only wonder what the box held.

…..

_Yrid, 13 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X770-_

"Ojii-chan, do I _have to_ go to your old-man meeting? It seems more fun at the beach…." A young nine year old blonde boy in a red shirt that sported a lightning bolt on the front sounded disappointed as he spoke to his grandfather, an extremely short old man: Makarov Dreyar, master of Fairy Tail. The boy fidgeted slightly as they walked, showing how excited he was to be outside of Magnolia. It was his first time traveling with his grandfather.

"Laxus…" Makarov sighed to his grandson, "I can't let you go to the beach on your own. You're too young and the only experience you have swimming is in the Magnolia Channel; the ocean is completely different. We'll go later, alright?"

"Yes, Ojii-chan," Laxus agreed, the tiniest bit begrudging. It was beyond amazing to have a guild master for a grandpa, but sometimes Laxus got a little bit annoyed with the amount of work the old man had to do.

"Hey!" the boy suddenly cried in excitement, stopping in his tracks and staring to his left, into the front yard of a home.

"What?" Makarov asked, halting as well.

"They're just like me!"

"Who? Like you how?" Makarov queried, confused.

"Those kids! They have magic just like me, but they're younger!" Laxus said happily.

Indeed, where Laxus pointed there stood three children. A young boy sat with his torso sprawled over a wooden picnic table; this wasn't unusual but for the fact that the tree he sat under dropped leaves in the strong sea wind, leaves that spiraled, spiraled, spiraled…. Froze. In a six foot diameter about the boy, nothing moved but his own chest as he inhaled gently. Not even the grass was swayed.

A bit further into the yard, two girls grinned at each other. Mimicking one another like distorted, discolored mirrors, they preformed the same actions and received the same results. The pale girl in black wrapped herself in shadows and vanished into a pool of darkness on the ground. The dark girl clad in white gathered light to herself and shimmered into nothing but footprints that bent the grass.

The shadows bubbled like water as the night-clad child rose from the darkness, and bear hugged the boy, who jerked out of sleep with a cry, the leaves scattering on the wind. An invisible hand plucked one such leaf from the boy's curly hair before the other girl became visible. The girls laughed and the boy grinned with quiet joy.

"See, Ojii-chan?" Laxus was more excited about finding children like himself than he was about the beach.

Makarov marveled. Laxus was an oddity, a child with powers he could control to some extent, and not even he had mastered the lightning completely. These kids were on a whole other level, their magic practically _pulsing _out of them in waves.

"Can I go talk to them Ossan?" Laxus asked with puppy eyes, forgoing 'Ojii-chan' in favor of a shorter reference to Makarov, "Please?"

"Let's talk to them," Makarov said, giving in. Laxus ran on ahead and engaged the three in conversation.

"You can use magic?" the blonde cried. Instantly the three took a defensive posture, the two girls slightly behind the boy, one on each side. The girl in black linked arms with the girl in white.

"… and if we can?" the boy asked softly.

"Me too!" Laxus practically sang, "Look!" the blonde furrowed his eyebrows in concentration and a spark began crackling in his hand. After a moment it dissipated. "I'm not very good yet," he said with disappointment.

The brunette boy in the yard picked a wild poppy that had been growing in the grass. Plucking off the stem, he held the flower in his palm. Laxus watched in amazement as the flower floated up a few inches and twisted closed into a bud again. It then dropped back into Wish's hand and regrew at super-speed. The girls behind him had disappeared again.

Laxus started violently as two little girl voice murmured identically in his ears.

"So you're a magic user to?" they pair murmured.

"See, Ojii-chan?" Laxus grinned. Makarov smiled at his grandson from the edge of the yard. The other children who had been unaware of his presence until now gave him the looks of startled rabbits as the two girls flitted back to the boy.

"May I ask your names?" Makarov asked gently. He received no answer. "May I speak to your parents?"

"Are you going to try and take us away to a guild?" the girl in white asked, chin raised defiantly, "Because we won't go!"

"Yeah mister! The three of us are gonna start a guild all on our own! See! We already gots marks!" the girl in black cried. The two younger kids showed messy marker drawings on their skin. The boy remained still until the girl in black prodded him in the ribs. He sighed and raised his hand to reveal the same marks.

"We're gonna be Midnight Sun! We're gonna beat all the other guilds and be the best!" The girls said together.

Makarov just smiled at them.

He wondered if this was how Fairy Tail had started out, just a couple of kids with dreams too big and a set of washable markers.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: And chapter five has been published! Kay kay, hope you all enjoy this a great deal, I put some work into this one. **

Abandon 

_Onibus, 13 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X770-_

Arrow staggered down the sidewalk, leaving a heavy trail of blood behind as his battered body stumbled toward his destination. People stared but did not stop, did not help, did not care.

_Survive_, his heart pulsed this one word throughout his whole body so loudly he wondered why other people couldn't hear it, that one word, _survive._

He would live against all odds. It was Aroata Mielus Jax against the world; To Arrow, all that meant was the he would have to set the whole world aflame and beat the inhabitants into submission.

His broken leg buckled and he lurched forward just as he reached the spot he had first hidden the small package. The pain was centered in his knee, and he had the slight suspicion that Wild had shattered his kneecap. He hoped that wasn't a maiming injury. Blood blurred his sight as he leaned against the wall near the secret brick and tried to kick it out of the way.

He couldn't bend his leg to kneel and he needed his hands for support so he didn't fall; the brick was firmly lodged with moss.

Turning his back to the wall, Arrow slid down slowly until he was sitting on the floor. Then, twisting his upper half, he scraped at the grime with his nails until his fingers bled before he was able to pull the brick out of the mortar. The box was slightly rotted in the wood parts, but beyond that, untouched. He kicked the brick away with his good leg.

Arrow reached in and removed the box, fumbling at his shirt collar for the key. Finding it, he found the keyhole with his fingers due to the fact that more blood had slipped over his sight. He heard the lock click open and the lid of the box cracked along the top, splitting like a tomb that had been raided.

Laying there, nestled in white, bloodstained velvet was a long bone-handle knife with a straight blade, in good condition without rust. Arrow's fingers slipped into familiar grooves in the handle and a piece of parchment fluttered out of the box as he picked up the knife. He picked it up, though he could barely read, and squinted in the falling darkness.

_Cyrus M. Jax_

The blade had belonged to his father.

….

"So….." Wild purred, "Shall we get started?" his hand crept across his woman's chest light as a spider.

She repressed a shiver of revulsion. It was part of the job, she told herself, she had to get Wild off guard so she could get rid of him. He owed a lot to the Master and he didn't want to pay.

To a dark guild member, disobedience was death, especially in White Noize.

The woman was Robin Bellrow, a sweeper for her guild as well as a master of disguise… a talented transformation and take over mage. In all honesty, she hated kids, but didn't think they deserved to suffer. She had wanted Wild to make the kid leave so he didn't have to watch her kill the man, but Wild had ended up killing the brat.

It sickened her.

As did the lust in Wild's eyes. She smiled. Talented actress should have been added to her list of attributes.

The man seemed ready to make his move, but a clatter in the front room startled him out of whatever he was going to do.

"Wild….."

Robin's eyes widened. That was the voice of the boy, hoarse with agony. But he couldn't be alive, there was no way.

Wild looked more shocked than she did, almost fearful. Robin changed into her namesake and sat on the windowsill to watch. The door squeaked open and a pair of crazy, color-ringed irises glittered in the shadows alongside a long knife.

Definitely fearful.

…..

Arrow walked with one hand against the wall for support, the other gripping the bone handle tightly in his small fingers, a crazed grin starting to spread across his face.

"Wild…" he rasped, voice rough. His multicolored eyes gleamed in the shadows as the door to Wild's room creaked open. The woman Wild had brought was so where to be seen, only a small robin on the windowsill, but Arrow didn't care. His tormentor was in the corner of the room, simply staring at Arrow as if he was seeing a ghost. Arrow's vision was going red, and not because blood had again entered his vision.

"What's the matter?" Arrow asked harshly, his voice grating in his throat. He took a sagging step forward, changing his grip on the blade in his palm, "Do your fists hurt? Can't you hit me anymore?"

Wild mouthed speechlessly, backing away until he hit a wall.

"Coward," Arrow spat the word as he lunged forward.

The first stab slid cleanly between Wild's ribs before being jerked out. The man coughed, and his blood showered Arrow. The second stab stuck in his sternum for a second. The third severed his femoral artery. The fourth split his jugular.

The man fell across the bed, twitching, and began to die, but Arrow wasn't finished. He continued to mutilate the man he hated until Wild was hardly recognizable as human. The boy sat, grinning insanely, panting, soaked in crimson, and happy for the first time in… ever.

His pain had left him. He hadn't heard any of Wild's cries; the roar of blood pulsing in his ears had been too loud. His senses had sharpened a thousand fold, and the copper tang of sanguine spiraled around him. He inhaled deeply and looked at his dripping knife.

He licked the edge, Wild's lifeblood coating his tongue.

"Cruelty," he said flatly, like a wine connoisseur tasting bad wine, before he started to laugh hysterically. A small scuff was heard behind him, and his laughter cut off as he whirled around. The woman stood by the door, but her appearance had changed.

Her face remained the same, as did her hourglass figure, but her breasts were normally sized now, and her hair was a shade of electric blue rather than green. Her eye color too had shifted, to one eye a pale shade of mauve and the other sea blue-green instead of the previous uniform blue. A scar crossed her left eyebrow, and on her ankle was a guild symbol.

The outline of a crooked music note, slashed diagonally in half.

Discordance in the melody of life.

Robin raised her eyebrows at the boy's work. She hated brats, but this one was… crazy. Flat out.

Crazy and, because of that, probably useful.

"Hey boy," she said casually as she stepped toward him. There was a blur, and suddenly she was staring down the tip of the bloodied blade. He had stopped… but just before the tip of the knife plunged into her violet eye.

Robin fell to her knees and hugged the boy to her.

"You liked it, didn't you? The feel of flesh beneath the blade, the sensation of blood on your hands, the look of panic that comes with killing… you liked it." She murmured in his ear. He was trembling, but not with fear or remorse, she knew.

Joy.

"You did. So I'm going to tell you a secret. I belong to a guild called White Noize. If you like killing, we'll give you victims, food, shelter, whatever you need. More than that, we'll give you a family. Interested?"

"I can kill?" he asked, "They'll let me do this again?"

"As much as you want," Robin said smoothly. _And then some,_ she thought bitterly, _you'll kill until you want to stop, and then you'll kill some more._

"Do you want to come with me?"

Arrow noddedand felt himself slipping away.

_Abandon useless things_

Aroata Mielus Jax had become useless.

Now there was a husk, a nameless child raised in bitter bloodshed and given life through the sacrifice of others.

Robin picked up the boy, who was no longer Arrow, nor Target, nor Aroata Mielus, simply a boy of the Jax bloodline, and carried him through the streets of Onibus, into the shadows and beyond, where the presiding dark guild preyed upon the unsuspecting.

….

_Yrid, 13 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X770-_

"Laxus, it's time to leave," Makarov said sternly. The young boy stared up at his grandpa with pleading eyes.

"Please Ojii-chan! Please! Just a few more minutes."

The more sets of eyes joined Laxus as Shade, Shine and Wish stared at him.

Makarov sighed.

"Laxus, the train leaves back into Onibus in half an hour. If we miss the train then we'll miss the ride back to Magnolia. We have to pack up so we can go," the old man told his grandson.

"Ossan," Wish called softly, and Makarov looked up.

"Ossan, you'll bring Laxus-kun back to play again, right?" Shade and Shine asked at the same time. Makarov smiled.

"Of course," the Fairy master said gently as he placed a hand on Laxus's shoulder, "We'll come back soon, you'll see."

"Laxus-kun, get stronger!" Shade cried, "I want to fight you when you come back!"

"When you're done wiping the floor with Shade, you'll have me to go against!" Shine chimed in.

"….. Bye," Wish told the other pair. The three children waved from the yard as Laxus and Makarov left.

"Do you think they'll really make a guild Ojii-chan?" Laxus asked, looking back as the three trooped into Wish's house for a drink.

"A group as headstrong as them…?" Makarov rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "I wonder. If they keep getting stronger, I wouldn't put it past them."

"If they _do _make a guild, I'll come visit it and see! I'll visit after I become the best in Fairy Tail! I want to be even better than _you _Ojii-chan!"

"Keep aiming high, Laxus," the guild master chuckled, "But I won't let you pass me up so easily."

"I will," the boy said with tones of determination, "I will."

…

_Hargeon, 13 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X770-_

Finny sat on the beach, an orb of water moving fluidly about her fingers as she played with it, much as a puppeteer plays with marionettes. There was something calming in the seas and the lakes… something that made natural sense.

Soon it would be gone, though. Pierra had said that she wanted to leave Hargeon in search of better work. Not now, but in a year, maybe two, maybe even three, when Pierra had amassed enough money to get a home somewhere else. Finny prayed that wherever Pierra picked, it would be near water.

The little girl sighed. She loved her magic, but a guild sound scary. On the other hand, if she joined a guild she could help Pierra… she wondered if she could do jobs as young as she was.

She wondered if any guild would take her, as weak as she was.

Finny could do no more than that: wonder.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I apologize for the lateness of this chapter, we're relaying the floor in my house, so I hope you enjoy this chapter, because I'm writing this while practically delirious with exhaustion. Please R & R **

Test

_Onibus, 13 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X770-_

The boy flopped limply on Robin's shoulders, so weak he could barely hold on to his knife. Blood was staining her clothing a dark red that showed easily on the white and gray that she wore, but she didn't mind. The shape shifter glanced back over her shoulder, and her mismatched eyes met multicolored ones for an instant before she whipped her gaze away.

The stare was inhuman. That bloodlust was something that only wild animals should have, and yet the boy….

She pitied him.

She arrived at the space where the dark guild White Noize was hidden. On a shack at the edge of down, deepest into the ghettos of Onibus, a white music note was painted. Robin muttered a few words, pressed her hand to her ankle with some difficulty, and then pressed her palm to the note on the building. Her guild mark glowed yellow as the mark on the wall glowed white, and she was allowed access. A hole in the ground opened a few feet away, stairs spiraling down into the gloom.

She entered the passage way, and came to a large door. They were a mile underground, and it was warm, with a damp, earthy smell that mingled with the scent of both tobacco and wood smoke with the underlying aroma of stale alcohol. A low, steady rumble of many voices came through the door. Taking a deep breath, Robin eased the door open, hoping she wouldn't be notice.

No such luck.

She opened the door and slipped inside a large, fire lit stone chamber with earthen floors. Tables were strewn about, and hundreds of thieves, murderers, pickpockets and the like milled around, some talking, some gambling, some drinking, some fighting. On a higher platform, above the ruckus, sat the guild master on a red velvet cushion, sprawled out with a drink in hand as she watched the scene below with hawk like eyes, her son kneeling beside her.

"Robin," Ai Shirodesu called from beside her boy, Kirai, "Welcome back."

Robin slid the boy further down on her back in hopes to hide him. The bloodstains all over her clothes wouldn't be a problem, as she had been sent to kill, but if the boy said _anything_, the master might notice, and kill him.

"Ah…. Yes, Master," Robin answered with a nervous smile.

"So you killed Wild then?" the woman asked. A tall specimen with deathly pale skin and white hair, her golden eyes were as piercing as a wolfs'. Her son had crimson eyes that were if anything, more unnerving. Having both sets trained on her at once, Robin fought off the urge to tremble.

"I-"

"Wild?" The boy. The boy was speaking. He was as good as dead; Robin's shoulders drooped. "WILD?"

Robin was forced to drop the boy as he thrashed out, knife humming through the air. He dropped to his feet like a cat, and stood beside Robin despite his broken leg. Some of his wounds had reopened, and sanguine trickled from the corner of his mouth as he smiled, exposing bloody fangs.

"I killed that bastard!" the boy howled, "_I _killed him!"

The guild was totally silent now, every eye trained on the boy. Ai narrowed her eyes, and Robin sucked in a breath of fear.

Then the guild master started to laugh.

"Did you, now? Is this true, Robin?"

"It is, Master," Robin told her, relieved that the woman was not angry, "Wild-…"

Robin cut off as those furious, ringed eyes flashed at the sound of the man's name.

"My target beat this boy to death, but the boy got up and killed the target before I had a chance to do anything. I brought him back in case you were interested in his abilities." Robin said into the quiet. Kirai gazed at the boy with an empty stare. The boy stared, but took in no information. Robin always had the impression that the child was staring _through _her. It was almost funny, however, that Robin's master was named 'Love' and her successor 'Hate'.

Yeah, funny.

"You say the boy was beaten to _death_?" Ai said skeptically, "How is he here then?"

"He definitely died…" Robin announced, "Because he stopped breathing. But he kept getting back up…."

"What is his name?" the master asked, leaning forward in interest. Ai's eyes flickered to the boy as he took a buckling step forward.

"I have no name," the boy hissed, "But I am the child of Cyrus Mielus Jax, called Aroata by my late mother. That is not my name, because I'm not Aroata Mielus anymore. I'm better… I'm not weak,"

"You're the child of _Cyrus_? As in Cyrus the Deadman?" Ai Shirodesu sputtered on her drink, nearly choking in excitement.

"That was his name. I never knew him," the boy smirked.

"Of course, of course, he disappeared when you would have been much younger… but... is that his blade?"

The boy glanced down at the gore spotted knife in his hand.

"Yes," the smirk widened into a grin again and Robin had to suppress a shudder. The looks being exchanged by the boy and the Master where less like the stares of human beings and more the threatening glares between beasts.

"Of course, that would explain…. Okay boy," Ai stood, and waved a hand at the guild. "Go back to what you were doing," she called to them, and in sets of twos and threes they turned back to their activities, all, no doubt, discussing the child of the Deadman.

Robin had heard stories of a pale man with copper hair and feral eyes that could take ungodly amounts of punishment and live through wounds that would have killed a thousand ordinary men… Some said he had sold his soul to the devil, others that he was the devil himself, and still others that he was the son of a demon and a mortal. He had belonged to the very guild where she stood now, but one day, for inexplicable reasons, he had been sent on a job and never come back. Most held to the story he ran away from his duty at the guild, but a couple spoke that he had died by choice to get out of any commitment at all.

Apparently that he been a trait of his, avoiding commitment if at all possible, but never breaking promises already made.

"Robin, could you pick up our young Jax again? He seems to be having trouble standing…. So like his father. You're his image, you know. Same hair, same eyes… same deadly look." Ai murmured to the boy as Robin started in surprise. She hadn't noticed Ai's approach. Behind his mother's skirts, Kirai narrowed crimson eyes at the Jax boy. The boy, in contrast, widened his grin and his eyes in anticipation of a fight, but Kirai simply turned and followed his mother when she started to walk. Robin went to lift the child back onto her back, but he brushed her away.

"I can walk," he said brusquely, taking lurching steps after the master.

"Shall I call Rorik?" Robin called after Ai. The woman stopped and cocked her head.

"His services would be appreciated… he only listens to you, so yes, go fetch him."

"Yes Master," Robin regretted saying anything for Rorik's sake, but she also couldn't bear to see the boy suffer more than necessary.

Robin became a raven and fluttered back up through the tunnel and into the night.

….

"Boy," Ai called softly as she stopped in front of a wooden door, "I'm going to test your skill."

"Skill?" he asked blankly.

"You're going to kill what is in this room, do you understand?"

"You can't watch," the boy said flatly.

"What?" Ai was angered, but she took great pains to hide it. She could watch through Kirai's eyes anyway, but being told she _couldn't _do something was something she was unaccustomed to.

"When I kill. You can't watch."

"Why not?" Ai questioned, a bit more sharply than intended.

The boy smiled insanely.

"Because if you're in the room, I'll kill you too."

…..

The door to the cell creaked open, and Delboro looked lazily to the entrance, wondering if it was dinner time already. The shadow cast in doorway seemed to be a child, broken like a toy played with too roughly. One of the legs tilted at a crooked angle, and the dim silhouette wavered. The man in the cell was confused.

The tall blonde had pissed off Ai by disobeying orders and exposing himself to try to catch more action. Delboro brushed his long hair out of his eyes as he stood.

"What do you want, brat?"

"…. Heh," the boy snorted, taking a shuffling step forward.

"If you want to redeem yourself, Delboro, kill the boy," Ai's voice drifted into the room as the door shut, causing the candle to gutter against the wall.

Kirai's eye rolled beneath the door, flipping itself into an optimal position. On the other side of the door, Ai smiled as vision into the room filled her mind like a television.

"All I have to do is kill you? This is ridiculous; who does she think I am? I'll stomp you into a pulp and walk out without a scratch."

"Will you?" something flashed in the semidarkness, "I wonder?"

Blood sprayed from a deep cut in Delboro's bicep. The man grabbed his arm, and turned, realizing that the boy was fast despite his injury.

"Fine, stupid brat!" Delboro took a hidden blade out of his boot and hefted it in one hand, "Let's go!"

That flash again, but Delboro caught on quick. He swung a bit late, but still caught passing flesh in his blade even as his own ribs were sliced open.

The boy staggered, a new wound slashed deeply into his back, added to hundreds more scars. Delboro started to laugh as the boy sank to his knees. He'd enjoy cutting the kid up immensely.

Then the brat started laughing. It was more of a scream of insanity, hardly recognizable as laughter, but laughter it was, mixed with hatred, bitter resentment, and desperate bloodlust… and the strongest will to live that could have possibly existed.

Feral eyes glittered in the shadows as the boy lunged again, this time snapping Delboro's Achilles tendon. Delboro sagged on his feet and shouted with pain. In his moment of weakness, dozens of cuts appeared all over his body. Blood splashed in rivers down onto the earth floor, churning up red mud as the man staggered.

"You…. Bastard!" Delboro screamed in fury as he threw his knife. In a moment of blind luck, the blade caught the boy in the sternum, thudding nearly hilt deep into his chest. The kid stopped in his tracks and fell to the floor, dead silent. Of course dead silent, no one could live through that.

Delboro swore loudly and started laughing for real. He'd won, of course, there was no way that he would have lost to a _kid_!

The bone handled knife that had been in the boy's grasp now found itself between Delboro's ribs. In an instant, all the tendons in his hands and feet were severed, and the man became immobile. The boy now stood swaying, blood pouring out of his chest in torrents, Delboro's knife in his left hand.

"How… how…. H-ahhhhhhhhh!"

Ai grinned as the boy in the room laughed, splashing in puddles of blood. When she was sure that he had finished with Delboro, she opened the door. The child looked at her from his perch on Delboro's bunk. A knife in each hand, he was as besmirched with blood as a painter was with paint after an artistic frenzy.

"Welcome to White Noize, Shredder Jax," Ai Shirodesu greeted pleasantly.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: For the first part of this chapter, you can also reference Broken Toys chapter 12 and 13 if you're confused. I realize that there is a typo in Broken Toys that states that Midnight Sun is already in action, but this is not true. I will be replacing that chapter soon, so for those who read it before it changes, just to clarify, there is as of yet no Midnight Sun. **

** Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, as the whole crew is in it for at least a short time and it may add some detail to events in Broken Toys :D Please R&R, yeah? **

Where Night is Blind

_Yrid, 10 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X773-_

Wish stood in his front yard, holding a ball in his hand, a ball with a star on one side and the phrase 'Make a Wish' stamped on the other side. His blood was rushing with excitement and he bounced the ball a couple of times out of nervous energy. A small smile was working itself over his face. Finally… _finally_!

"Wish! Hey, Wish!"

The boy turned to see Shade and Shine running toward him, Shade in a ripped black dress with a skull pattern on the front, black and white stripped tights and black boots, and Shine in a gray skirt, ballet slippers, and a striped sleeveless sweater.

"Shade, Shine…!" Wish dropped the ball in the grass and went to meet them, hardly containing his joy. "Dad says he's taking me on a mission!" the words tumbled out of his mouth as he came within speaking distance of them. The boy punched the air and jumped up with ecstasy, "I'm ten now! He said he would take me!"

Shade kicked the dirt with one booted foot.

"No fair, you're lucky being one year older than us!" Shade pouted.

"Yeah, no fair! We're all the same, we wanna come too!" Shine chimed in. Wish smiled and shook his head, knowing that both of them were stronger than he was to begin with.

"Nope, just me and Dad today, sorry." Wish's gaze turned apologetic, "I would take you if it were up to me."

The twins sighed, but it was a sigh of resignation.

"Alright," Shade said. Wish jerked his head up as he heard his father calling him from the other side of the house that it was time to go. He waved and ran to the other side.

"Good luck!" Shine cheered.

"Don't get hurt!" Shade called after him.

Wish bowed his head so she wouldn't see his grin.

…

_Outskirts of Yrid, 10 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X773-_

They had returned from the trip without injury, yes, but on the way home… on the way home…. Two men from Solstice had waylaid them. Solstice was the home guild of Yrid, the strongest one there, and Night Fury, his father's guild, was a sort of branch guild. The two men, reminiscent of a fox and a weasel respectively, had goaded Wish's father into a rage.

"My pride will not allow you to insult my guild any longer!" Wish watched with wide eyes as his father took a fighting stance.

"What'cha gonna do about it, eh?" the fox man sneered, his ice vulpes wrapping around his ankles like a cat as it's crystalline fur fluffed out like needles.

"I'll fight you for the name of my guild." Wish's father spat. The boy's breathing increased speed. He didn't want to fight people! Someone would get hurt, and then…. Then…

"Hey now," the weasel man sneered, his polecat winding down his arm, "inter-guild battles are against the rules."

"Inter-guild _war_ is against the rules." The elder Moore growled, slipping his magic gloves over his hands. He clenched his fists, and four blades, two to each hand, popped out of the top of the fingerless gloves. "There is nothing to say I can't fight you on my own."

"Have it your way," the burly fox-man shrugged as his pet barked, bristling like a silver pincushion.

"Dad, I don't think-….." Wish stopped talking as his father stepped forward anyway. His father had always been an exceptionally prideful man for the sake of others. His father lunged forward in a flash, his blades glittering. The fox man barely dodged, and where the blades passed, black voids opened in the air, quickly closing as their wielder growled in frustration.

Wish watched the fight with horror, unaware of the impending danger behind him. Too late he noticed that the weasel man had disappeared.

"Where-mph!"

A hand was suddenly pressed over his mouth, an arm wended around his throat, and a polecat dropped onto his shoulder, hissing.

"Hey, Fury!" the weasel man laughed, calling Wish's father by the name of his guild, "Look what I found! I wonder… what would you do if I did something like…. This?" The man murmured a command, and the polecat raked claws across Wish's face, tore a chunk out of his arm, slashed viciously at his chest, poised to tear out Wish's throat with its teeth.

"NO!... ugh…" Wish's eyes widened as his father fell to the ground. The vulpine animal ran a clear tongue over crimson fangs as its prey died on the ground, lifeblood pouring out of the man's throat. The fox torn his jugular in half; Wish's father was dead in under a minute.

"Ah… ah…..ah!" Wish whimpered as he was released from the weasel man's grasp. The two were discussing transportation methods of the prized horn Wish and his father had worked for. The boy's shifting blue eyes were locked on his father's as the man stared at the sky, irises that exact shade. The sun was setting, and the heavens were painted a beautiful purple.

But after that beauty came night. And in the night, there was no relief from the shadows.

Wish dragged his fingers through the dirt, nails cracking and bleeding with the force of it.

"Should we do something with the brat? My motto is '_leave behind no malice_' after all," the weasel man grinned wickedly.

"No, dude, he's just a kid….." that was the last thing Wish consciously heard. The darkness swallowed up his mind and sight, and the madness ate at his soul. The Dream of Darkness had been awakened.

The nightmare had begun.

…..

Wish came to his senses lying in a small pool of blood at his father's side. The red liquid however, came from the bloody scrap that used to be a polecat. Torn to pieces, its fur was scattered in its own blood, its fangs bared in a final grin.

Wish looked on the scene in fear. The darkness… everywhere he looked, beasts roamed in the shadows! Monsters! He screamed and they swarmed to him.

"No!" he shrieked, grabbing at his father's broken corpse, looking for relief from the terror. The beasts halted and stared at him, and there, in the crowd, were the unmistakable forms of the weasel man and the fox man. Looking at his own hands, Wish saw the blood smeared over them.

It hit him all at once.

He had _killed _those men. The shadow beasts were there now, where they had been absent before. It must be magic, magic that had killed the man, and it was all his fault.

Leaving the prized horn, his father's body, his very sanity behind, Wish started to run. He didn't know where, he just ran, the wounds on his body stinging, bleeding. He ran, faster, faster… but not fast enough.

The monsters followed him and spawned from the blinding night itself.

….

_Yrid, 10 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X773-_

A woman by the name Corona hummed to herself as she walked out of the shop she had been picking up groceries in. Hefting her back in her arms, she took a step forward, about to cross the stretch of sidewalk that spanned an alley way.

However, she halted.

She dropped her bag.

She screamed.

Propped against the alley wall, covered in blood and filth, lay the child of one of her friends, Starla, eyes blank and half-open, his breathing so shallow it hardly existed. He sat slouched, legs out in front of him, palms up, and Corona could see deep cuts gouged into his body and face; his hands were caked in sanguine.

"Wish!" she cried, crouching down beside him. People halted in their tracks and ran over to have a look. It was known that Nighter Moore, a kind hearted member of Night Fury, had taken his son Wish out on his first job.

The boy didn't show any sign of response. If anything, his breathing became shorter and more accelerated, becoming more alarming for all that.

Someone in the crowd ran to get a doctor, someone else ran to find Starla, and Corona kept trying to get an answer of any kind out of the boy.

"Wish! Let me through, that's my _son_!" A hysterical pregnant woman shrieked. Corona, recognizing the voice as Starla, stood and ran to the boy's panicking mother.

"Starla," Corona wept, her words jerky with sobs, "Wish- He won't say anything! He's… he's…!"

Starls simply went to her boy's side and kneeled beside him, touching his face and stroking his hair, tears welling in her eyes.

"Baby…. You know me, don't you? Do you know who I am?" Starla whispered.

Blank blue eyes met hers, and the boy groaned painfully.

"What happened baby?"

"I don't know," Wish said lowly. Starla took a shaky breath.

"Where's your father?"

"I don't know."

"Are you hurt?"

"I don't know."

Starla finally broke down into wracking sobs.

"Wish… baby, who _did _this to you?"

The boy starred at her, and some recognition came to his eyes.

"He's dead," the boy said flatly, "They're all dead. All of them, all of them, the night _ate _them." Wish began rocking back and forth, shaking uncontrollably, "They killed Dad, so I killed them, they're all dead, all dead, _all_ dead….."

The boy went on like that, eyes staring emptily, full of fear.

Always fear.

….

_Hargeon, 10 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X773-_

"Finny?" Pierra peered around the doorframe, finding her sister sprawled on her bed, "Are you upset?"

"Not really," the blonde nine year old sighed, "I'm happy actually… I just wish we were going somewhere close to the sea."

Moving wouldn't be bad, as she didn't have any friends in Hargeon, but leaving the sea would be like leaving a bit of her heart behind… she felt almost part fish.

"Huh? Kelra didn't tell you?" Finny's oldest sister asked.

"Tell me what?"

"That we're moving into a port city. Yrid, actually." Pierra told her with furrowed eyebrows.

"What? KELRA!" Finny shouted through the house.

"Hey, don't be mad, I'm sure she forgot."

"Or she just wanted to tick me off," Finny mumbled.

"She's only seven."

"And still a demon-spawn!"

"Oh she is not," Pierra scolded, sitting on the edge of Finny's bed.

"I think you'll like it in Yrid. It's hot almost year round, has a ton of beach front, and plenty of guilds to choose from, some bigger than others." Finny's sister grinned.

"Guilds?"

"Lots,"

Finny started laughing. She had changed her mind, moving was going to be great.

…

"Shredder," Kirai murmured, his creepy, glazed, stare fixing on the boy, "what are you doing?"

"Cleaning," Shredder answered, not looking up. His customary black jacket was hung up on a chair, the various belts that lined the inside and held sheaths emptied. The sheaths themselves were spread out on the table, each blade lying gleaming on top. Kirai didn't miss the fact that the only blade still on Shredder's person was the bone handled keepsake, strapped to his waist. He wasn't wearing coat, so the knife was in plain view, but had he been fully dressed, it would have been perfectly hidden. Also in full light was the White Noize mark that was tattooed onto his collarbone where it came to a sharp point in the center of his chest. The boy was still unnaturally thin, as well as tall for his age, giving him a skeletal appearance.

Shredder was standing, staring at the table thoughtfully, shirt off and exposing his many scars, including the ones left my Delboro… Kirai remembered that night.

_"Rorik, I need you to heal this boy," Robin had said to her childhood friend._

_ "Robin…" the tall man had sighed, looking at Shredder, then at Ai, "How far?"_

_ "All the way," Ai commanded._

_ "What?" the healer had asked, "He's thrashed! Healing everything will take all night!"_

_ "I'm paying by the hour. Now start."_

_ 'Sorry', Robin mouthed behind Ai's back. Rorik shook his head and turned to the boy._

_ "Six fractured ribs, one broken, a shattered kneecap, countless lacerations that need stitches, and internal bleeding. For the love of God, what did you do to this boy?" Rorik asked, outraged._

_ Shredder laughed._

_ "This is nothing. It doesn't even hurt."_

_ "We might want to add 'mental instability' to that list… and maybe a nervous disorder," Rorik murmured._

_ "I'm not paying you to be a shrink, I'm paying you to heal an asset."_

Kirai remembered how his mother had persuaded Shredder, telling him that he was above all other life. Of that he had no problems believing, it was the fact that he couldn't touch some people that he had problems with.

"You work for me," his mother had said, "And I need you. As long as I need you, you're safe. As long as I think you're useful, you remain better than everyone else, like a part of my family."

As such, Kirai had since then treated Shredder like a brother, even though he knew his mother was lying. Shredder wasn't the least bit valuable to her as a human; he was simply her living weapon.

"Did you need something?" Shredder muttered as he lined a couple of knives up next to each other. Without waiting for an answer, he asked, "Do you think slow acting poison is better or paralysis toxin?"

"Paralysis," Kirai answered, "And mom needs you for a job."

Shredder looked up at those words. Without pausing another second he grabbed his jacket as he walked by, not even stopping to put on a shirt, and carried the jacket over his shoulder. He stepped out of the room, Kirai on his heels.

It almost annoyed Kirai how eager his 'brother' was to take jobs.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: This chapter is a bit longer than usual, and as always I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm kind of wondering if I should keep writing these authors notes, because I'm not sure if anyone reads them…. Thanks to SenbeiXCup Ramen for her lovely reviews :3**

Face in the Sea, Voice in the Darkness

_Yrid, 10 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X773-_

"Wish? Are you hungry?"

"I don't know,"

"Are you tired?"

"I don't know,"

"Do you want something to drink?"

"I don't know,"

"Well, alright then…." Starla Moore whispered sadly as she tucked the blankets in around her unresponsive child, "If that's all. Good night, Wish."

Her words were greeted with silence. Starla flipped off the lights and began to walk down the hallway, too distraught to even cry. Her husband was gone and her only child… no, not only child, though her other was as of yet unborn… her oldest child, then, was sunk deep into shock and despair where he couldn't be reached. Starla wiped a stray tear, the first of many, off her face.

Wish huddled under the covers, eyes wide. He would not sleep. He _must _not sleep. The beasts were there, in the shadows; the void was drowning him in its depths. When he slept, his dream would creep in on him, and he would be devoured by the night.

Black…. Dark…. Red flashed in the night, the glittering of daemonic eyes, and Wish began to scream. He covered his head with his blankets and quaked beneath them like a mouse.

"No! Leave me alone!" he shouted in terror. He rose, gazing about wildly before he threw his pillow at one of the apparitions. Starla ran back to the room as fast as she could, being already six months pregnant. She stood in the doorway and saw nothing but a dark room, he child pressed up against the wall, shaking. He was staring blankly ahead, with nothing in front of him but a bare wall. He suddenly broke and ran into the hall, ducking beneath his mother in a desperate struggle toward the light.

He felt like throwing up, he wanted to die… he threw himself directly under the brightest light in the house… and glanced at his own shadow.

Eyes glared up at him from his own silhouette.

Wish snapped.

…

"Starla-san, can we see Wish?" Shade asked sadly, holding hands with Shine. They both had sad looks in their eyes, and gifts of candy in their pockets. Starla didn't even attempt to smile as she let them in.

"Don't be surprised… it's one of his bad days."

The girls entered Wish's room where he sat, back against the wall, knees drawn up to his chest, staring straight ahead with dark bags beneath his eyes. He didn't turn as the pair came in and sat down beside him; Sade even went so far as to wave a hand in front of his face.

"Wish?" She whispered.

"Wish-kun…?" Shine murmured.

Cloudy violet eyes drifted over in their direction, devoid of interest. Shade held out a large candy bar she and Shine had bought for him at Meldrin's Candy Shoppe. It was his favorite, milk chocolate with caramel in the center; the packaging was dark blue with a black and white bow adorning the top.

Wish stared at it for a second before he unwound himself from the ball he had been curled into and took it from her. He looked at it for a moment before he looked back at the girls.

"It's for you," Shine said to him, with a nod. The boy turned his gaze back to the candy. Shade took it from him, and he watched as she unwrapped the top.

"Eat it slowly, okay?" she told him softly.

He took a bite of the caramel chocolate, licking the stickiness off his finger when some the gooey golden syrup melted down the side of the wrapping.

"You look tired… maybe you should take a nap," Shine said sympathetically.

"I don't sleep," Wish rasped. He hadn't spoken in a long time. It had already been a week since his episode in his bedroom, and still he refused to close his eyes. "I'm afraid," he whispered, shutting his eyes for an instant, "I'm afraid of what I might _see_."

He was suddenly wrapped in a hug from Shade.

"It'll get better," she choked, holding back a sob, "It'll get better, I promise. Even if… even if you don't have your dad, we're still here. We'll always be here."

Shine joined the hug from the other side. The three stayed like that for a long time, and Wish eventually drew back into his shell, the chocolate forgotten in his hand as he stared blankly at the shadows caused by the rising sun and the furniture.

The twins left the room, both with tears in their eyes.

…..

The pair went to the beach later, removing unnecessary clothing such as Shine's whiter kerchief that had been tied cowboy style around her neck, or the black knee-length boots that had gone over Shade's ripped gray jeans. Now barefoot, the two rolled up their pant legs and waded into the gentle waves. It was new moon that night, and the tide was at its lowest point.

"Shade, I found a sand dollar!" Shine cried, and Shade looked. The sun was beginning to get lower in the sky, as it was already four o'clock. Neither girl was hungry, having been given snacks by Starla as they left the house.

"I got sea glass…." The pale girl trailed off. The water at her feet was dyed black with the coming night, but she could have sworn…

There! Again, a flash of gold and green, and a pale form that looked like a human face for an instant that drifted beneath the surface before vanishing.

"What's up?" Shine asked, walking over, loot in hand.

Shade merely took her hand and the black spark in her palm ignited into flame at her sister's touch. Holding the flame close to the surface of the water, and then setting the foam aflame, she sought the image she had seen in the waves, but it didn't come.

"Guess I'm starting to see things… just like… like…" Shade's bottom lip trembled, lashes damp with unshed tears, "Like Wish."

Shine walked her sister back to the dry sand and the two sat down, wrapping arms around each other and weeping.

"I want him to be okay!" Shade wailed, "I don't want him to feel lonely or scared or sad!"

"I know…" Shine murmured, "I feel the same. Because we're all friends."

Shade sniffled, nodding.

"And we're all going to make a guild together... and we'll go on jobs together. We'll be the best guild in Yrid. Together."

Shade looked at her sister and hugged her tighter, closing her eyes.

"I'm glad you're my sister," she whispered.

"They say you can't pick your family, but you picked me. I'm glad you did," Shine gave a small smile, "What do you say we go look in the water for a couple more shells before we head home?"

"Alright," Shade agreed, although she and Shine already had a large collection of various shells and sea-smoothed stones. The pair walked back to the sea edge, the waves rising in height as the sky darkened. The sea was dyed red with the blood of a dying sun, and the two stood as nothing more than silhouettes for an instant.

Something caught Shade's eye, and she bent to retrieve the green-patterned shell happily.

Her hand brushed flesh, and instinctively she grabbed at it, caught it, and zapped it with her black lightning.

The water a foot away bubbled wildly, and something burst from beneath the waves, crying out in shock.

Shine ran to her sister's aid, and the twins began sharing magic energy as they did to strengthen their powers. Glowering fiercely, though still ready to run at the sign of an impossible danger, the girls watches as the water cleared from the air and seaweed pulled from the form in front of them.

A blonde girl with ochre skin and green-gray eyes the color of the ocean at night glared up at them, a strand of seaweed woven into her gold locks, seashells on strings at her wrists and throat. He was sitting, bellybutton deep in water, and dripping wet, fingers pruny from having been in the water so long.

"That hurt," she pouted, nursing her electrocuted hand.

"A mermaid?" Shine asked.

"Tch, no stupid, _obviously _she's a kappa," Shade snorted.

"Kappa's only live in _fresh water_ dumdum."

"Fine, an ocean deity then."

"You're just making stuff up!"

"It makes more sense than a mermaid!"

"Hey!" the blonde snapped, "I'm a human, thank you!"

"Then how did you get air?" Shade asked, "I saw you looking at me from underneath the water!"

"U-um…." Those clear, sea-green eyes clouded a bit.

"Will you grant us a wish, little mermaid?" Shine asked.

The girl stood up, showing off long legs clad in jean shorts.

"I moved here with my sisters yesterday… I can use water magic," the girl looked away as she said this, "I'm a freak, and now you know, so go ahead and make fun of me."

"Are you stupid?" Shade asked.

"You already saw our magic," Shine smiled.

"Just because you're gifted doesn't make you a freak," Shade huffed.

"Are you looking to join a guild?" Shine queried.

"Uh, yeah." The girl said, "I'm Finny… Finny Ellis."

"This is Shade," Shine pointed.

"And this is Shine," Shade told Finny.

"We're twins," they said together.

Finny snorted in amusement, but didn't comment.

"We're going to start a guild with Wish," Shade said boldly, her previous conviction coming back in a rushing torrent.

"The person who sees things?" Shade narrowed her eyes at Finny's words, "Sorry! I heard you when you were in the water."

"Finny Ellis, you need to meet Wish. Want to join our guild? Well, it's not really a guild _yet_, but it's _going _to be, the best guild in Yrid and maybe all of Fiore. But you have to be our friend to join," the two spoke over the rising wind and waves.

"F-friend?"

The girl who had always been ostracized by her peers, the girl who had never _once _had a real friend reached out to the mismatched twins who had always had one another and only that and for once felt human warmth that she had never had; she found herself wrapped in acceptance.

Finny joined hands with Shade and Shine, and in that simple touch forged a bond that lasted forever.

….

_Onibus, 10 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X773-_

"I completed the job, Mother," Shredder called as he walked into her room, rolling his head onto his shoulders to try and loosen his stiff muscles in the wake of a fight. He called her that in a manner of title, not a true form of endearment. Their relationship was more symbiotic and parasitic than a true human bond.

"That's good," Ai told her 'child' as Kirai wandered in, "you deserve a rest. Go down and talk to Ariss. I'm sure she was worried."

"Tch, she's such a worry wart; that guy didn't even take me three seconds. I wish it had lasted… much, much longer."

"I know, but she's your family, so you need to reassure her that you're okay, like you do with me."Ai murmured as she stroked Kirai's pale hair, touching his smooth albino skin lovingly, "Because families coexist out of more than necessity…"

Shredder bowed to his master.

"Yes, Mother."

The boy walked out of the room, wiping some blood off his face. He was spattered in the red liquid, but he didn't bother washing it off. It wasn't his, so he didn't care. He only had a single cut that split his cheek, but it was shallow.

He stepped into the common room and walked over toward the familiar shimmering mass of bronze hair. Carelessly dodging brawling crooks with almost unnatural ease, Shredder pushed a drunk out of a bar stool and sat beside Ariss.

"I'm back," he sighed, drawing his bone handled knife and flipping it between his fingers as a normal boy might flip a pen or a coin.

"Shredder!" Ariss cried in shock. The boy grinned cockily, looking at his female counterpart through slitted eyes. Ariss was a spy, her cute demeanor gaining her access to the hearts of many. Right now she was clad in a short black dress… or it might have been an overlarge sweater. It came down to her mid thigh, but the sleeves drooped over her hands, unraveling at the ends. She had black ribbons wrapped around her legs and black ballet slippers on her feet. Her cousin easily slid her drink from her hand and took a sip, leaving a smear of blood on her glass.

"Was it a good job…?" she asked apprehensively.

"It was alright," Shredder answered with a wrinkled nose, "Didn't last more than ten minutes though… the target spent nine of those ten minutes dead and twitching anyways." He stuck his knife tip first into the wood of the bar, and Ariss flinched, thinking of how that blade would sound in flesh.

"Well I suppose…" she cut off as the drunk from before finally stirred himself off the ground. Groping clumsily onto the bar top to pull himself up, one of his wild swings caught the bone handled knife. The blade was pulled from the wood and in the drunk's hand before Ariss could warn Shredder. The knife was dashed against the floor, and the nicked blade was hit in just the right way that it snapped off from the hilt.

The boy twitched, and Ariss could see that he had switched to what she called his 'beast mode', as her cousin acted like a starving animal when angered. She knew that that particular blade was very important to Shredder.

He lunged forward, and the rest of the room went silent before people started placing bets. Not on who would win of course, but how long the drunk could survive. Everyone had heard rumors of Shredder Jax's insanity, but few had seen it before.

The drunk writhed beneath the child in panic, but it was far too late for him. Shredder plucked the blade off the floor, regardless of the edges cutting his fingers bone-deep, and thrust the blade into the man's shoulder, tearing upward.

That blade had been his last tether to his mother's memory, and now it was _gone_.

Shredder sank deeper into his darkness than ever before, not even enjoying this kill.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Alright, I kind of lied, it looks like this one will be much longer than the originally planned ten chapters… sorry, looks closer to fifteen now :3 This story is probably going to focus now on Shredder's rehabilitation and Finny's interaction with him, eventually leading up to Broken Toys. Thanks for reading, please Review! That Review button loves being poked, why don't you humor it? **

Monochrome 

_Onibus, 10 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X773-_

Cheers echoed sickly in the stone chamber of White Noize, mingled with screaming, snarling, splattering of blood, and the abominable sound of tearing flesh. The man beneath Shredder was nearly dead, and the boy was farther gone than he had ever been, literally sacrificing his own body to cause his opponent as much pain as possible. He even went so far as to _bite _the man when he tried to fight back, breaking the drunk's hand beneath his teeth.

The screaming didn't come from the victim, it came from Ariss, who was trying desperately to stop her cousin. At last she got a hold on him as he bucked forward, apparently attempting to tear out his prey's throat. Instead, Ariss threw her arm around him and wrapped her legs around his torso, clinging like a baby koala. He bit her arm in an effort to make her release him, but she held him tighter.

"Stop," she sobbed in her ear, "please, please, stop. It's over now."

The boy didn't relax in her grip, but he stopped grinding his fangs into her arm, which she was sure was bleeding by now.

"…not…" Ariss heard.

"What?" she sniffled, still not relinquishing her hold.

"Not over," the words were guttural and wild-sounding, "Not over. Not dead. He took it. He took it away, must be punished…."

"The knife?" the bronze haired girl asked through her tears, "It's here. We can fix it, I promise. We can put it back together." She slipped the two pieces of the knife into his hand. He had been holding the blade, but his fingers were cut to the bone, and weak. He raised his hands and pressed them to his face, forming vertical red lines beneath his eyes.

"I hate it," he said with more coherency, "I hate this."

"What?" she whispered in his ear, slowly unwinding herself from him, careful not to make any sudden moves. People around them were laughing at the dying man, dumping drinks on him and gathering their windings or doling out loses.

"All of this," he said, "I hate the world."

Ariss said nothing.

"I want to burn it all to the ground. I want all the people to die. I want everyone… to suffer."

"I know," she murmured, sitting beside her cousin, between a corpse and a husk of a human, used by Ai, "I know."

…..

_Yrid, 6 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X779-_

Four years had passed since the downward spiral of Wish and the meeting of Finny. Since then, the Ward family had grown by two and the Moore family had grown by one. Finny become one of the 'Sun', the gang previously only formed Wish, Shade and Shine.

Wish had 'recovered' from his father's death, no longer becoming a terror driven lunatic at the sight of his own shadow, although he still didn't sleep at night which attributed to his habit of falling asleep in all places, including standing up.

Like now.

"Onee, is he _sleeping_?" eight year old Kazin asked, holding two year old Kova by the hand.

"Oh for the love of… Wish. Wi-ish. _Wish!_" Shade shouted. Nova, four years old held tightly to Wish's sleeve, releasing it as he noticed his sibling was asleep. The young boy scooted away having learned by now what must inevitably follow such a problem.

Finny solved the issue by pushing the sleeper on the shoulder. He collapsed into the dirt, and snapped awake upon impact, yelling something about purple pigeons eating his hotdog before Shine helped him up.

"So," Shade began, "This is the first official meeting of Midnight Sun. We have a place to get jobs, and we have six members…"

"Buh!" Kova shouted.

"…Seven members, which fulfills the minimum requirements. Shade and I already took and passed the Master's exam, and as you know, we pooled our savings from the past fourteen years to pay for guild registration." Shine finished.

"All we need is our guild mark to form the pact. Pick your color everyone!" Shade grinned ecstatically, holding out a bunch of tubs of ink. "Black and white are already taken."

"We want red," Kazin said, gold eyes glittering.

"Blue…" Wish snuffled, rubbing his eyes.

"Geen!" Nova grinned.

"I guess I'll get pink," Finny sang.

"Will do," the twins said, preparing the magic stamps that sealed a mage into a guild.

The oldest member at fifteen years old and the youngest a little over two years, that group became the youngest ever to form a guild.

…..

"First job!" Shade squealed simultaneously with Shine.

"Mmm… got a job…" Wish mumbled in his sleep from where he sat with his back against the wall.

"Yay!" Kova shouted happily as Kazin tossed him lightly in the air with joy.

"A _job_?" Finny shouted, jerking upright from where she had been laying on the ground staring at the ceiling. They were currently in their guild house, which consisted of a black and white painted clubhouse with gray carpet and a sun-pattered wooden door. Stuck in the ground outside was a sign that Wish had painted while half asleep. 'Midnight Sun' it read, the words crooked and the 'n' barely on the wood. The boy had fallen over and landed in the paint bucket. He still had smudges of black and white on his left cheek.

"Wha kina job?" Nova asked excitedly.

The twins looked at the form.

"We have to find a black cat named Escher," Shine said, not allowing disappointment into her voice, "It says he's wearing a red collar with a golden bell."

"The reward is only a hundred jewels," Shade smiled, "But if we do a real good job with little tasks like this, people will gradually start giving us harder quests… with bigger rewards… and then we'll get more members…. And our guild house will get bigger…" the girl got a faraway look in her eyes like she usually did when envisioning the future of Midnight Sun.

"I don't understand why we have such a small job… you three are already classified as S class mages!" Finny said with a small pout.

"… kids…" Wish muttered.

"What?"

"He says it's because we're kids. People don't want to throw us into danger, despite our rankings," Shade interpreted, "But like I said, if we prove ourselves, we can get people to trust us. Let's go find Escher!"

…..

_Onibus, 5 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X780-_

"Shredder," Kirai said in his quite monotone, his hooded crimson gaze trained on the back of his adopted sibling from where the albino lay sprawled across an armchair in his room, "why are you here?"

The thin boy had not changed all that much in the last five years except for a growth spurt that left him at a total height of six foot five and skeletally thin. His long, bony fingers twitched, before he reached up and swept his bronze hair out of his multicolor eyes, returning the gaze of his brother.

"I don't know," he muttered angrily, "I don't know why I'm here."

Kirai rolled his head back and stared at the other boy from upside down. Sixteen years old and addicted to blood like many of the people in White Noize were addicted to heroin or some other mind-numbing substance. Even as Kirai watched, Shredder started scratching at his arm in an absent minded attempt to draw blood.

"She hasn't sent you on a job in a long time," the albino drawled. He didn't hate Shredder. He didn't love him, or even like him. After all, a tool should never deserve the affections of its master. If it served its purpose, it had fulfilled duty.

If not, it became useless and was discarded like the trash it was.

"Does she still need me?" the thin boy muttered, "I _have _done what she's asked."

"I don't know," Kirai mumbled, closing his eyes, "I don't have to worry about that kind of thing."

Shredder made no reply despite the fact that Kirai's comment was obviously a slight to his rank.

The door to Kirai's crypt-like room creaked open and admitted the guild master herself.

"Shredder," she said tonelessly. The boy stared up at her from his seat on the couch across from his albino sibling. "I have a job for you,"

The boy now sprang to his feet, staring at her with rampant hunger in his eyes.

"Who? When? Now? …..Thank you," His rapid-fire questions stilled as she glared at him with her wolf's eyes. His familiar crooked grin was beginning to creep over his face, and his hand strayed absently to his bone handled knife. It had taken a lot to piece the blade back together, but it had been done.

"This job… if you fail, you become useless. If you become useless, I will abandon you and return you to whatever sewer you came from. Your worth only extends so far as your ability," the woman said coldly. Shredder's smile slipped a bit before becoming wider.

"I understand."

"The guild of Yrid Midnight Sun… it's a brat's playhouse that has far too much influence. Even here in Onibus we can feel the effect of having such a powerful group of mages in one guild."

"Yes?"

"I need you to kill the masters." Ai commanded.

"_Only _the masters?" Shredder asked, his smile fixing in place.

"Take what you want, just get rid of the masters."

The boy's eyes narrowed in delight.

"Yes, Mother."

The perfect assassin. No friends, no family, no conscious, no heart.

…..

_Yrid, 5 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X780-_

It had taken only two days to get to the city by train, but even that had taken a toll on Shredder. It had taken all of his self-restraint not to just burst out laughing on the train and kill everyone in arms reach of him. Being so close to other living things… it made him that much more eager to complete his task.

He was wrapped in a black jacket, knives sheathed on the inside of it. He preferred long sleeves because it hid his scars, and he enjoyed black simply because he had spent so much of his time in the shadows.

He had been mothered by darkness and raised by death alongside deceit and sin.

He laughed hollowly to himself as he began the trek to the target guild. They might be guildmasters, but everyone had a weakness, and he had already been briefed by his own master.

Shade and Shine's magic depended on one another. If he killed one, he took out both. Also, they had family in the guild. That would make things much easier.

He caught sight of the building, far outside of the city. There had already been a guild assigned to Yrid, so they had taken a gamble, become a mercenary guild, and ended up twice, no _three times _as powerful as the home guild.

A large black and white stone building, lights still on despite the fact that it was nearly eleven, and the sky was pitch black. It was almost pretty. Such a monochrome world with a black sky and white sand, gray building and a dark form by the window.

Such a monochrome world needed color.

"I'll paint it red," Shredder decided, giggling to himself as he crossed that final distance to the black and white doors, kicking them open with a wild laugh.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Argh, I'm so hungry… so hungry I can't even type, so I'm going to post this and then go poke my mom to find out when she's making dinner. I hope you enjoy this, please R&R! **

Coming Home

_Yrid, 5 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X780-_

The guild had been as usual, rowdy and excessively loud, even that late at night. A guild run by fifteen year olds wasn't shutting down when it got dark, no sir, that guild worked around the clock. It was helped by the fact that the guild had already been built an added on living quarters, so that the 'night walkers' of the guild, or the people who only took jobs at night because it was their preferred sleeping schedule, could come and go as necessary.

Shade and Shine were still awake, as were Wish and Finny. Nova and Kova had already been put to bed, and Kazin was snoring on the table top. Jair was playing cards with fourteen year old Kuma and totally taking advantage of the fact that the kid wasn't all that great at poker. Galice was shamelessly taking Azriel's abuse as she threw a sort of mini-tantrum because he was leaving on a trip the next morning.

The core of the guild was seated in the very center of the room, talking about funding.

"We've got plenty of money, the proceeds from all the jobs done give a ten percent cut to the guild…." Shade muttered, scribbling on some paper before throwing down her pencil in frustration. "I'm no good at math!" she shouted.

"Here," Wish said, holding his hand out for the writing implement. She gave it to him, grumbling, and watched as he solved it flawlessly in seconds. "We have enough to expand the guild, with about half a million jewels left over from the guild savings of one year."

"Wish is almost as good at figures as me!" Shine smiled.

"Hmph," Shade pouted as Finny giggled at her.

An older man who didn't live in-guild had decided to go home for the night, and was headed toward the door. He turned, smiling, and waved at Shade and Shine. The girls stood up to wave back, but found the man to be gone.

The door had been thrust open as if by a force of nature accompanied by the laugh of the devil himself. A blade had flashed in the air, cutting the man down from where he stood, spraying blood high into the air. Stepping through the fog and smoke and blood that hung on the air came a skeletal boy dressed in an overlarge black jacket, eyes crazed. He raised the blade and licked the blood off the edge with an insane smile on his face as he planted a booted foot on the back of the man he had nearly killed.

Pandemonium broke loose in the guild as the boy started laughing manically.

"Hey, Midnight bastards! Play with me for a while, yeah?"

Another knife went whizzing through the air, pinning Jair's hand to the table. He cried out in agony and Kuma grabbed his sword, only to be hit with a grazing blow to the arm. He collapsed in seconds, unable to move. Jair felt sick, like he was going to throw up; the blade had been poisoned, and he communicated it to the rest of the guild by collapsing. Panic rose.

The boy finally moved from his place by the door, jumping onto a table and placing his hand over his eyes like a sailor on in the crow's nest. Blood was spattered across his face and stained the soles of his boots, leaving red footprints on the wood.

"Ah!" he cried, swinging is knife through the air joyfully to point at Shade, "You," and now at Shine, "And you! Right? Of course, you must be!"

He walked over the tabletop until the furniture tipped; he rode the descent smoothly to the floor, walking straight off without missing a beat.

"The masters, right? I hope you'll entertain me… See, I need to get rid of you, or _she'll _get rid of _me_!" he started snicker again, eyes showing a total and utter disconnect to reality, "And really, this place needs color…" he raised a hand to show them a crimson palm, "like red! I think you would both look great in red. Everyone does!"

The boy lunged forward. He was fast, and agile, the very picture of rampant insanity.

Wish was the first to act, freezing time zones around himself, but he was unable to catch Shredder.

"Too bad," the boy laughed, sticking his tongue out at Wish, "I already know about your ability, Wish Moore!"

As he spoke, a ball of black fire and a ball of white fire flew at him from both sides; he leapt straight into the air, drawing his knees up to as the flames exploded beneath him. He landed on his toes and prepared to throw another knife into the clearing smoke.

The scent of blood and fear was driving him mad and the sound of screaming, the coppery taste in his mouth… he lived for it.

He drew back his throwing arm and exhaled, only to find himself unable to breathe. As the smoke cleared, Shredder fought with the water that covered his mouth and nose like a gasmask, not allowing air through at all. He tried to tear it away, but his hands simply sank through the liquid. He resisted the urge to gasp, knowing it would be fatal.

He fell to his knees as spots danced before his eyes; he was far enough gone that he inhaled out of desperate reflex, only to find icy water sloshing in his lungs. He had been through hell and back, but this wasn't a physical enemy. He couldn't get away, there was no air, no _air…._

The boy's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell face forward to the ground. The water mask splooshed onto the wood and soaked the attacker's bronze hair and black jacket, the bottom rims of his color-wheel eyes showing beneath hooded lids and his mouth was half open.

He wasn't breathing.

"Oh God," Finny whispered, running forward, legitimately praying for both forgiveness and a miracle, "I didn't mean… I thought… I only wanted… Oh, God, I killed him! Oh my God, oh my _God_!"

That maniacal smirk had crept back onto the boy's face again as he coughed, spitting up water, and he rolled onto his back, looking at the shocked girl from upside down, much as Kirai had not so long ago. She was pretty cute, he thought, obviously a beach goer, with quite a nice tan…. But she _would _have to die… and somehow, he thought she would look better in blue than red. No, definitely better in blue.

"What's wrong with killing me?" he asked, his laugh hollow as he grabbed her ankle with his empty hand. His knife was on the floor next to him, but within easy reach. No one moved, knowing that with his speed he could be up and have killed Finny in a matter of seconds.

"Killing is wrong," Finny squeaked, still utterly stunned by his sudden revival.

"But why is killing wrong?" the boy asked lazily, "Because someone will be sad? If that's it, then it's okay to kill me, no one will be sad. Because you'll be punished? Look around, no one here will punish you if I die. Because I myself don't want to be killed? That would be a lie, I wouldn't mind at all."

"Wha…?"

"Do it," this time, the smile fell from his face and his eyes were simply the empty, soulless, haunted eyes of someone who doesn't have a reason to exist beyond superficial movement, a clockwork toy that went about business without purpose.

"N-no!" Finny cried, "I don't want to be a murderer!"

"Fine then," Shredder grunted, gaining his feet, "guess I'll have to _motivate you_!"

With the last to words he swept his arm upwards, a hidden blade popping out of his sleeve and humming toward the girl's face. At the last second, he found himself unable to move. Chains made of black, white, and gray links bound his body in place. Shade and Shine brought their wrists together and the chains drew Shredder's arms to his side. His knees buckled, and he was forced to kneel before the twin girls.

"A three stranded rope is not easily broken…" Shade said.

"…But in your case, we needed a chain," Shine finished.

"Why are you here?" they asked together.

Shredder snorted, and then threw his head back with a veritable cackle.

"Like I'll answer that!" he shouted. Finny noticed that though he was smiling, his eyes seemed to be screaming. "Like I'll tell you what the hell I'm doing this all for! None of you will understand, you stupid bunch of goody two-shoes guild rats!"

Shade bent over and stared the boy straight in the eyes, nose only inches away from the attacker's.

"I'm going to ask one more time. Why are you here?"

"And I hate repeating myself, so maybe this can answer for me," the boy ground out, spitting in the girl's face. Shade wiped it off distastefully before she planted her foot in his chest, knocking him to the ground so that he laid face up, arms trapped beneath.

"Who are you working for? Will you tell us that at least?" Shine asked, walking over and kneeling next to Shredder's head. The boy simply craned his neck to the side, the white mark showing clearly on his dark skin.

"White Noize; what is a guy like you doing in a guild like that?" Shade asked, prodding her captive's chin with the toe of her boot.

"Dying," he answered flatly, "killing, stealing, hating, hurting, hoping, praying, wanting."

"What?" Shade murmured.

"I think we need to take this one upstairs." Shine said.

…

Shade, Shine, Wish and Finny all sat, staring at the captive before them. Rather, Shade stared, Shine examined her nails, Wish snuffled in his sleep, and Finny avoided looking at Shredder.

"So Ai sent you?" Shade asked lowly.

"Kill me."

"Why would she send you? She must have known that someone of your level couldn't take on a pair of masters…."

"Kill me."

"Why would you serve her?"

"….." Shredder actually opened his mouth to answer that one, taking a breath. He knew he was caught. If he went back to the guild like that, she'd kill him, or throw him out. If he gave info, Ai would send a sweeper to wipe him out. If he remained silent, the group before him would turn him in to the council.

"She saved me," he heard himself say. He hadn't given consent for that! Stupid mouth! Stop saying things on your own! "Robin did. She took me to Ai, and Ai gave me something… even if I knew it was fake… even if it was a lie, I wanted to think that someone needed me… that I had more purpose than to die starving and weak in the gutters, bleeding for a man who never wanted anything from me but for me to stand still and take his beatings! I wanted," his voice had risen to a shout, "to think that even if my father left me behind, even if my mother died for strangers but left her own son, even if I am a screwed up, bleeding, undead, monster of a human being, that I had a place to belong! And now you've taken everything away from me! Failure means death because _Ai never loved me_. Either you kill me or she will. And her way will definitely suck more."

"So all you wanted was a home?" Shine asked.

"Does it matter?" Shredder gritted out, "What I've wanted has _never _mattered."

"But you _did _want a home, correct?" Shade queried.

"Yes, damn it! Yes, I wanted a home."

The twins gave him a grim look.

"Welcome to Midnight Sun. This will be your home," they said in unison.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Okay guys, I know this is horrible timing as far as the story, But I won't be updating at all next week due to finals that make me feel like curling into a ball like a roly-poly and hiding until they're over. So I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please don't come after me with pitchforks if you would ;P **

Playing Fetch

_Yrid, 5 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X780-_

"Wait…." Shredder said slowly, "What?"

"To pay for your crimes…."

"And for the damage to our guild…."

"You will remain here, with or against your will…"

"And make up for your wrongdoings," the twins spoke in alternate turns. The pair faced Finny, who was on Shade's left and Shine's right, "You will be part of a team… with Finny and Wish."

Wish muttered an affirmation in his sleep, and Finny gave a mute, if somewhat fearful and worried nod.

"I can't stay here," Shredder snapped, "Ariss is still trapped in the guild, if I don't come back Ai will probably kill her, I can't just _leave _her there!" His words had fallen out of his uncontrolled mouth in a tumbled as he got more and more agitated, "She's not as strong as she makes out to be, you know? Kirai thinks he hides it real well, but I know that the albino bastard raped her, and that he's still after her,I _have _to go get her, I _have to_!"

"Whoa!" Shine cried at the flow of words that rushed forward like a tidal wave, the boy's tongue tripping with anxiety. His breathing quickened as he pictured what would happen if he wasn't there as a buffer between Kirai and Ariss.

"If I'm not there she'll get eaten alive by that guild and probably take the punishment meant for me! She cries when she thinks I'm not looking-"

"Then go," Shade said firmly.

"What?" Shredder looked up. This was impossible. Freaking _impossible_.

These people were too damn trusting. Way too damn trusting. It was going to get them stabbed in the back by some traitorous bastard like him.

At that moment though, he didn't really feel like betraying them.

"Do you have something I could use as decoy proof of your death?"

…..

_Onibus, 5 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X780-_

Shredder slipped back into guild entrance, and as he went down the underground tunnel, he composed himself. He was a very, _very _good actor. Almost as good as Robin and Ariss were actresses.

He had made it back to the guild in half the time it had taken to make it to Midnight Sun, taking only a day to get back.

He put on a cocky grin, held a bit of his 'proof' in both hands, and kicked open the door to the common room. Fake blood dripped down his fingers from the proof, and he shuddered with pleasure even though he knew it was only a close imitation of the real thing.

The guild went quiet, the same as when he had first arrived there. Ai was back on her platform, and Kirai was staring blankly around as usual.

Shock crossed Ai's face as Shredder stalked forward, radiating the confidence of the damned. He tossed his proof on a table when he stopped in the center of the room; two scraps of skin, one dark and tattooed white, the other pale and tattooed black flopped wetly onto the wood. Both bore the mark of Midnight Sun.

Shredder knew the 'skin' was purely magic generated grafts, made by some silver-haired hippie of a healer that had been in his target guild, and that the blood and muscle were also a small ways from the truth, though no one else would be able to tell.

Shredder caught sight of Ariss at the bar, clad in her tight black clothing. She watched him with hardly concealed fear in her eyes. Fear for him or of him, he didn't know.

"You…. Completed your task," Ai said, disbelievingly.

Shredder gave a mocking bow, eyes flicking up to glance at his master.

"I did," he straightened back up; the magic damage he had sustained from the chains, which had burned through his clothing was undisguised, "They put up quite a fight. It was …. Fun!"

"Come here, my faithful boy," Ai purred, "You deserve a reward for your hard work."

Shredder climbed the steps to the platform, internally cringing, but outwardly smirking, flushed with success and pride.

"Yes?" He asked quietly.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself… but…" Shredder caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye, but it was too late to move. "That was your last assignment," He felt alternately hot and cold; a familiar burning sensation spread from his stomach. He looked down, and coughed, tasting his own blood.

He tasted like hate and spite and cruelty. He tasted like Wild.

Shredder nearly vomited. Wild had tasted like cruelty. He himself tasted the same. How had he ended up like the man he had so despised? It had been a long time since he had been forced to taste his own blood, a long time since he had felt his old friend Death so close at hand.

Ai's arm protruded from his midsection, just below his sternum, and he could feel his lungs filling with blood. He coughed to clear them in desperation, but what fluid exited through his mouth was replaced by still more of the crimson sanguine.

She had stabbed him. She had _stabbed _him.

He started laugh, blood gurgling in his throat. It wasn't going to be a painless death of drowning this time. It was going to hurt, and that was how he wanted it.

"I knew this was coming," he said casually. Ai's eyes widened in shock as he drew his blade and rammed it hilt-deep into her shoulder, slashed her arm to the bone, carved flesh off her body. Why wouldn't he _die_? She knew he was hard to put down, but she had _spread poison on her hands _for the love of all that was evil! Why wouldn't he just _stay down?_!

Those were Ai's final thoughts as she saw the flashing blade close the distance to her eyes.

…

Shredder was in a great deal of pain, and it only added to his ecstasy. Kirai's shriek of horror was music to his ears as he slid his blade into Ai's brain and pulled back out. Her mutilated face was much more beautiful drenched in red.

Everything looked better in red, including himself.

Down below, all hell had broken loose as the crooks realized that their leader was dead. They all began pushing forward at once, trying to tear the traitor to shreds. Among them was Ariss, but her face was covered in tears as she shoved men back down the steps, desperately attempting to reach her cousin, her only family.

He sent her an apologetic smile before he felt a fist collide with the side of his head, causing fireworks to go off before his eyes. He reeled from the blow, rotating on his own axis to find the culprit. Ah, of course, Kirai.

"You… you…." The albino gave an inarticulate scream and lunged again, fists flailing. Shredder had wiry strength in his thin body, but he was much lighter than his 'brother' and therefore at a disadvantage. If Kirai got a hold of him, he could easily throw him off the platform without much effort.

Shredder dodged to the right, wincing as he felt something tear in his abdomen. His vision was going red and black in turns, sparking with white. He wasn't in control of his actions as much as he would have liked.

"Traitor," Kirai snarled, grabbing Shredder by the throat, "You damn gutter rat! Mother only took you in for your talent! You've been living on borrowed time; you should have starved to death nine years ago!"

His hands tightened around the other boy's thin throat, and Shredder was too out of it to struggle. He could feel himself slipping away, but could do nothing about it. He opened his eyes a bit to try and see a last piece of his shitty world, and instead caught sight of a charred corpse. Kirai's face seemed to have been burned away, his skin flaking into cinders. The body collapsed, and as he fell to the floor, he saw Ariss standing directly behind where Kirai had been, red and black whip in hand. She cracked it at the men on the stairs, and sparks flew, molten, white-hot flames following the tip of the weapon.

No, it wasn't a whip, but an extremely thin blade, red hot but for the hilt, which was bound in black.

He smiled before his consciousness dimmed.

His cousin may have been an emotional wasteland, but if the guild had taught her anything, it was that strength was everything.

…

_Yrid, 5 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X780-_

"He's not going to come back," Jair said pessimistically, eyes narrowed in pain as Galice bound his injured hand tightly in clean bandages, "I've seen his type before, and they're all bad news. If he comes back, it'll be with the rest of his guild to stamp us out."

"He'll come back," Shade said simply.

"And he'll come with only one companion," Shine added.

"Look, I respect you guys, but come on. I'm four years older than you, and I'd like to think I've seen a bit more of the world than you," Jair sighed, wincing as Galice jerked the linen unnecessarily tight. He flashed a look at the silver haired young man, but the healer's face betrayed nothing.

"I think at Shade-dono and Shine-dono know what they are doing, Jair," Galice answered in his quiet voice, "Else they would not have been able to build up the guild thus far. If I remember, you yourself were picked up out of a group of thieves…. Much as Azriel and I were taken from our poverty."

Galice glanced up, silver eyes sparking. Jair looked away, properly reprimanded. He thanked Galice for the treatment to his wound in a mutter, standing up and heading toward the stairs. Galice gave a bow to Shade and Shine before saying he was going back to his room and following Jair up the steps.

It was very late… rather, very early, as it was still dark outside but undoubtedly getting that predawn chill. Shredder had been gone for two nights and a day, and Finny was beginning to doubt his return. Jair's words had just caused her doubts to resurface…

Her thoughts were broken by the low rumble of an idling engine out in front of the guild. The engine cut, there was a thud, and muffled curse, and the door was shoved open with a thin shoulder.

Ariss pushed her way inside, dragging her cousin. She held the boy beneath his arm, hauling his limp body across the wooden floor, streaking the ground with a wide swath of red.

Shredder's stomach turned as the floor swayed beneath him when Ariss took a couple of lurching steps forward. He pushed himself away from her and fell on his hands and knees, throwing up blood. He retched again, but nothing came up, and it _hurt_.

Finny watched in horror as the thin boy pressed a hand to his stomach, his fingers coming away black-crimson with congealing sanguine. He was shaking on all fours, his formerly tan skin gray, and teeth clenched in agony.

"Please help him!" the girl screamed hysterically. She looked remarkably like the boy, Finny noted. The water mage had thought this 'Ariss' to be a lover, but perhaps she was his sister? The woman began choking out words incoherently. "He came in- Ai stabbed him- I killed Kirai- Shredder was taking care of me this whole time!" she burst in to tears, "Please, you have to help him!"

"Hey," Shredder said hoarsely, giving his cousin a small smile from his position on the floor, "I'm all right."

"No, you-"

"I'm alright because I'm home," Shredder smiled.

Then he blacked out, finally collapsing.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sigh, okay, I lied guys. The lure of posting was too strong to avoid, even during finals week, so I hope you enjoy this chapter XD**

Connect the Dots

_Yrid, 5 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X780-_

_ "You think he'll be okay?" _

_ "I think so… I'm exhausted, healing him took a lot more that I thought. He had internal injuries entirely unrelated to the stab wound, although that was an awful injury in itself…. I need some rest."_

_ The sound of clipped footsteps, a door closing, the creaking of bed springs as he felt one side of whatever he was laying on tilt slightly. _

The words and sounds floated in his head, which was ringing like a bell by the way. The noise around him was creating a throbbing pain behind his eyes… ow, damn, what was _wrong _with him?

Shredder blinked as strong sunlight pierced his sight.

"Ugh…." He groaned, draping one arm over his face.

"How do you feel?" He knew that voice; it was Ariss, the reason the mattress he was on was tipping.

"Like shit," he groaned, rolling onto his side to push himself upright, "What the…." Shredder had come to the realization that he was missing his shirt. He looked around for a moment, seeking it, before Ariss tossed his dark, oversized jacket at him. He began to tug it on, acutely aware of the fact that his scars were gleaming bright white against his dark skin. He hated the scars, and he didn't want anyone seeing them. He felt the comforting pressure of his bone handle knife in its pocket hilt, pressing against his ribs.

"How the hell did we get here?" He asked his cousin blankly. He remembered her killing Kirai, but past that it was all a blur of freakish pain cold air slapping his face.

"I stole a motorcycle," Ariss said calmly, and Shredder blinked at her in mild shock, "I put you up front and had to steer from behind. You were bleeding a lot; I wouldn't be surprised if there was a blood trail all the way from Onibus."

Shredder had left the front of his jacket open, considering that his chest had far fewer marks than his back. He pressed a hand to his stomach, marveling at the painless experience. He studied the livid scar that disfigured the area directly beneath his ribs.

"Weird…." He murmured, "Do you regret it?" he asked without change in tone.

"Regret what?" Ariss asked blankly, looking at him oddly.

"I'm asking if you regret taking me with you," Shredder said flatly, watching his spider-like fingers as he balled up his fist on the blanket over his knees. He had a hollow look to him, Ariss thought, as if a single blow could destroy him. His life was a story of abuse and abandonment, far worse than hers. She realized too late that she had yet to answer, and that the long pause had implicated something she had not meant.

"I've seen the way you look at me sometimes," the boy whispered, still examining his scarred hands, "Like you're scared." He snorted, "I suppose that someone like me doesn't deserve even tolerance."

It was true, he thought, a person like him, the son of 'Deadman' Cyrus, didn't deserve anything, and despite the fact that he was not one of the Weak, he was still worthless.

He would always, _always_ be worthless.

Now and forever.

"No, Shredder….." Ariss started, trailing off. What could she say? She had watched his progression for years, and all that she could say to that was that he was unstable. Oh yes, he could be quite normal, but he had the instinct of an animal, and the same fear of death as a lion has of a flea: none at all, nearly unaware if its existence but for annoyance.

Shredder just shook his head, closing his eyes. He had long since discovered why he didn't die. The knife his father had left behind was the source. Coupled with either the will to live or extreme lack thereof, it gifted life unto its owner, equipped or not…. At the cost of the user's sanity, eating away at the mental state of the wielder little by little.

"Where are we?" He asked brusquely, hiding the hurt that Ariss had just inflicted upon him with her silence. He knew she cared to some extent, because she had flipped out when he had 'died' upon their arrival at Midnight Sun, but just because she loved him as family didn't mean that she liked him as a human.

"Um, Midnight Sun….?" Ariss added a question to the end of the sentence as if speaking to a small, stupid child.

"Duh," Shredder said pointedly, "I meant where, as in what is this room?"

The room in question had black marble tile, black curtains, dark gray walls, blackwood furniture, and black bed sheets.

As he finished the question, the black door swung open, and in trooped Shade, Shine, Finny, and Wish.

"You like your bedroom?" Shade asked, linking arms with her twin.

"We could move you if you like," Shine said with a smile.

Shredder caught the eye of the water mage, an instant where gray-blue met color-wheel green before Finny flicked her gaze away. So she was afraid. Brilliant.

Now he turned his gaze to the yawning boy at Shade's side. He gave a tired wave with one hand and the corner of his mouth twitched up in a tiny smile as if he had no energy for anything more.

"No…." Shredder answered distractedly, looking back at the girl, "No, this is good." His smirk crept back on, "So, how is the rest of your guild taking my presence?" he asked, cocking his head.

"Ah…." Shade muttered awkwardly, looking at Shine.

"No one but Galice, Jair, Kuma, and a couple others know. Galice is all for second chances, Jair is pretty pissed about you putting a knife through his hand, and Kuma is indifferent because he figures we know what we're doing." The darker twin said simply.

"He figures wrong, we wing it all the time," Shade laughed.

"No, _you _wing it," Shine countered. The two began bantering, playfully name-calling one another.

Shredder swung his legs out of bed, smile spreading.

"Then how 'bout we all have a proper introduction?" he asked with a reckless grin.

…

Shredder walked down the stairs slowly, jacket still open, blade in his hand. He gripped the handle convulsively, not afraid per say, but more nervous than he had ever been on jobs. The sleeper, Wish, walked a pace behind him at his right, and Finny walked three paces behind, on his left. Ariss had stayed upstairs, and Shade and Shine were keeping out of sight, trusting Finny and Wish to keep Shredder out of trouble.

Shredder put on his brave face.

That smile covered every weakness he had. He had long since learned that the world hated weakness, and if you had enough bravado to smile through pain, even if it pissed everyone else off, you always came out better than if you had broken down and cried.

He hadn't cried since his mother's death, and he wouldn't cry again, ever. He had promised himself. Tears had never gotten anyone anywhere.

So Shredder approached the rest of the busy guild with his blade in its sheath, but still in his hand, a gauze pack against his left jugular, and the pale scars, not nearly as hideous as the others, visible on his flat stomach and chest.

He walked over to one of the tables like nothing had happened and sat down. Finny and Wish sat across from him, Wish putting his head on the table, and Finny avoiding Shredder's gaze.

Shredder tapped his long fingers on the wooden table top in a rhythm, head resting on one hand as if waiting for something. 'Something' came in the form of the older man Shredder had nearly killed upon his first arrival. He stood in the gap between Wish and Finny. The water mage sat straight-backed, eyes wide, and Wish actually half-opened his eyes.

"Hey," Shredder smiled with a wave, not lifting his head. The man said nothing, but reached across the table, grabbed Shredder's collar, and dragged him bodily across the wooden surface. Shredder's facial expression changed from his grin to a near-bored look, but he didn't protest.

"I have a feeling you may have gotten splinters in my side," Shredder said blandly. Inside he was flaring with anger. _Two inches _more and his jacket would pull up high enough to start revealing scars.

If that happened, he would kill someone, and if he did that, he would die at the Master's hands.

"You think I give a damn about _splinters_?" The man snarled. At this point, the rest of the guild seemed to be noticing his presence, and was beginning to fall quiet. Shredder gave a soft sigh, counting to ten in his head to still the fury that was raging through his blood. It didn't work.

"I would appreciate it if you let me go," the boy said through gritted teeth, a slight threat creeping into his tone.

"Hell no! What do you think you're doing, walking through a guild you tried to destroy?" the man spat. There were noises of accent all around.

"Why, I believe I am coming down for breakfast. I was told that room, board, and meals were paid out of money made by a guild member from their jobs?" Shredder said placidly. His attempts at civilized conversation seemed to be angering everyone else more. He wondered if he lacked some sort of human aspect that gave him rights to speech.

"Guild member?" the man snorted, "As if! I asked what the hell you were doing here!" The man pulled Shredder over the table, and the boy's face passed inches from Finny's. She watched helplessly as he was pulled onto his side, the gauze on his neck flipping off to reveal the White Noize brand on his skin.

"If you were part of our guild, you'd have our mark! Where is it, huh?" The man bellowed, "Show us, dark guild rat!"

The man ripped at Shredder's jacket, and the boy resisted. They couldn't see the scars. They just _couldn't_! They were ugly; some saw scars as a symbol of battles survived. To Shedder, scars symbolized weakness, battles lost. They reminded him of Wild, of how worthless he was, how useless he had become, how _broken_…..

They would stare at him, some would pity and some would laugh. Others would say nothing. Shredder couldn't handle it.

"No-" He screamed, as the protective cloth was torn free of his body, revealing the hundreds, perhaps thousands of marks that all but stripped away his natural skin tone. Permanent bruises in the shape of boot prints, finger prints, and one over his kidney from when Wild had slammed him into a coat peg. He had pissed blood for a week after that. Twisted white scars that trailed from shoulder blade to hip stood livid against the white stripes from his beatings. His bare arms showed pockmarks from where flesh had been dug out, his wrists showed signs of what seemed to attempts to get him to bleed to death, his bared ribs were clearly visible beneath his skin, rising and falling rapidly.

He had managed to save his vital organs from being destroyed, thus his front was nearly scar free, the marks that were there more recent, from his jobs in White Noize. His face had remained untouched because Wild didn't want anyone coming after him for visible child abuse.

The rest of him had been utterly destroyed, mind and soul included. Had he ever, at any time, been _happy_? He couldn't remember.

He had been exposed, reduced in everyone else's sights as one of the Weak. The Weak were taken advantage of and stolen from. Stealing was survival. You were either a taker, or nothing. If you didn't want to be nothing, than you took, whether it was food, protection, favor, love, or life.

If they saw him as weak, they would take from him, and he would lose everything… no, he had nothing to be taken. Not anymore.

He stood there, feeling naked as everyone drank in the sight of his scars with horror. It seemed like an eternity that the man stood there, the torn knee-length jacket loose in his hand. The cloth fell from his shocked fingers even as Shredder's hold tightened on his bone handled knife.

He broke, red film encroaching on his sight.

He had been exposed.

His weakness had been shown to everyone.

His mask was no longer any use, but he put on his brave face any way, because he wanted to cry.

He smiled to the world, screamed to himself, and vented his anger.

It seemed like an eternity until he started moving, but move he did.

Shredder was perfectly silent as he drew his knife and slowly approached the man who had so callously revealed what Shredder had longed to keep hidden behind his mask.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hello~ For everyone's information, I got A's on all of my finals, so YAYYY! *does happy dance* **

**Well, I would say you get an extra chapter, but I DID post on Wednesday even when I said I wouldn't, so that was your extra, and here is the second half of it :3**

**I hope you enjoy it, please review, yeah?**

Taking Sides

_Yrid, 5 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X780-_

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion before his eyes, ridiculously slow. His heart beat thrummed and stuttered in his chest like a caged bird, fury such as he had only felt toward Wild before building up in his chest, but rather than feeling like he was on fire, Shredder felt like his body was being devoured by ice.

For once in his life, he was in control, perfectly aware of every emotion, every feeling, every stare that lit upon his weakness.

He decided he would rather be high on bloodlust. It didn't make his chest ache with that horrible awareness, only with disappointment when he came back down again.

The man was backing away from the boy as his lip curled over his teeth in a snarl filled with such malice everyone felt like the raw emotion was arching through their own blood. The bone handled knife slid from its scabbard with a clean hiss as the attacker took a step forward.

"You bastard…" Shredder bit out, "you filth, you damn, idiotic old man! Damn you to Hell!"

Shredder lashed out, leaping forward with inhuman speed, boosted by his fury and emotion-manipulated magic. He bowled the man over and grabbed hold of his collar, twisting it until the man began to choke. Shredder's thin, nearly emaciated body contained the wiry strength of a person who had been through hell only to find that that it was fully occupied. His body had the potential to be lean and handsome when properly cared for, but years in the slums had roughened his features and eaten away at his formerly healthy flesh.

Shredder thrust his face close to his opponent's, their noses nearly touching. The man's brown eyes widened in fear beneath the narrow gaze of the animal-turned-human, and he struggled to get away with no avail.

"No one was supposed to see this," Shredder hissed at the man, "These scars were mine, they hold memories that remind me on what I never want to be, and you've just ruined one of the only things I've been able to keep for myself. The only thing I was able to keep free of taint; I'm not even able to say that I kept Ariss free! You seem to have just cut the last thread to myself."

The man spluttered incoherently as the boy tightened his hold. He took a fierce pleasure in the fact that the man's face was slowly turning purple. It was in some strange way better than his bloodlust high, more enjoyable almost.

A warm hand caught his wrist and he recognized the ochre skin tone immediately. He looked up and his multicolor eyes met the unwavering gray of Finny's stare.

"It's enough," she murmured, "Isn't it?"

"Nothing is ever enough," Shredder whispered harshly, but his grip loosened anyways, flipping his knife in the air and catching it by the point. He drew his arm back and threw the blade viciously.

Finny screamed, and the blade _thwacked_ into grout. Everyone was silent for a moment as they realized the knife was sticking almost hilt-deep into the space between marble tiles, barely a centimeter from the man's face.

Shredder jerked the blade out of the floor, snatched up his jacket, and stalked up the stairs.

Damn it, damn it, _damn it_!

He'd come here to start over, not repeat his past!

He kicked in the door to his new quarters, and the room was empty. Good.

Shredder threw himself onto his bed, face down and covered his head with a pillow. The torn jacket fluttered to the ground and blended in with the black tiles. His heart still hadn't quieted, he still needed something to do, but there was nothing to destroy, nothing to calm him, nothing to take his pain…

He wasn't allowed to kill anymore. He wondered how long he could hold to that.

Something was suddenly draped over his shoulders, and he didn't move, expecting it to be Ariss.

"What do you want?" he asked with a bitter laugh, "For someone who regrets saving my ass, you sure don't act like it!"

"They bother you, don't they?" a soft voice asked, "The scars I mean…." Shredder stiffened as he felt gentle fingers trace the scars of his past with a cool touch. He didn't answer.

He slowly arched his back, removing the pillow over his head and propping himself up on one elbow, twisting around to see Finny and Wish.

He grabbed what was over one shoulder and found it to be a black sweatshirt with a hood. It wasn't exactly like his old jacket, but it would work.

"What are you two doing here?" He wondered.

Finny just shook her head silently, eyes fixed on his scars, but Wish cracked a thin smile.

"We're a team now. We stick together."

Shredder wondered if the warm feeling in his chest was what normal people defined as 'happiness'.

…

"What's your real name?" Shade asked, dark eyes boring into Shredder's, almost making the tall boy uncomfortable despite the fact that he was about a foot and a half taller than the woman, who only stood at about five foot one.

Shredder was currently seated in Shade and Shine's work office, a large ash gray room with mingling black and white furniture. He felt like he had fallen into some monochrome world…

The desire to paint everything red tugged at the back of his mind.

He tried to focus on the questions that he was being asked; the pair had to officially send his paperwork to the Council to get approval to stamp him with a new guild crest. If the request was denied, he would be execute for his crimes, but Shade assured him that the request would not be turned away. Apparently the twins had connections to the council through someone that they called 'Gramps' or 'Macky'.

"Does it matter?"

"Just answer the question," Shine grumbled.

"But… my name is…. It's embarrassing!" Shredder lamented, "I'd rather be called Shredder! And there are some…. Bad memories associated with my old name." His expression darkened as he said this.

"We have to write your full name in the slot, but we'll make note of your preferred name," Shade said, "So what is it?"

"Aroata Mielus Cyrus Jax. First name Aroata Mielus, middle name Cyrus, surname Jax," the former assassin informed uneasily, "Known successively as Aroata, Arrow, Target, and now Shredder."

Shade kept a straight face, though the corner of her mouth twitched.

"Okay, date of birth?" Shine asked, stifling a grin. Shredder resisted the urge to face-palm.

_Mother, _why _would you name me that? Ugh, when… _if_ I ever have kids I'm naming them something _normal!

Back to the interrogation.

"Uh….." Shredder furrowed his brows, "I have no idea,"

"What?" Shine cried, "You don't have a _birthday_?"

"What the hell, I was taken away when I was like, six or seven, how do you expect me to remember? We were too poor to ever throw a party anyway!" Shredder asked reproachfully.

"We'll make it up then. How does December 13 sound? It's two months from the day you came here, so…" the pale counterpart of the two looked at him for approval. Shredder shrugged, not particularly caring. Who needed birthdays? He'd been around from anywhere between sixteen and seventeen years, and that was good enough for him.

"Parents?"

"…"

Shade looked up at him, tearing her eyes away from her paper, "Are you going to answer the question?"

"Uh…. Cyrus Jax and Xenia Florinthina ne Jax," he replied at length.

"Cyrus Jax? As in, Deadman?" Shine queried in surprise. Shredder sighed.

"Yes."

"Hm… okay then, eye color…. Uh…." Shine stared at him for a moment, "Um, just mark unknown, that's easier. Hair color, bronze, race…." Shine looked back up at him, "What _are _you?"

"Hell if I know," Shredder shrugged again.

"And you'll be staying in-guild for residence?"

"Yeah,"

"Alright, you're free. Fly away, be gone, vanish, take a hike," Shade grinned, "Go find Finny," she added with a wink.

Shredder just stared at her. How could she possibly know that he thought that the water mage was almost blindingly beauti-

He cut that thought off before it had a chance to finish.

….

"We need a team name," Wish grumbled as Shredder sat next to him, across from Finny. The rest of the guild seemed to have resigned themselves to his presence, but they still avoided him like the plague.

"Something with blood," Shredder said.

"What? Why? I don't like it. I think we should be called Azure Flash," Finny suggested.

"Who died and made you empress?" Shredder asked with a snort, "That's a stupid name anyway. Something red!"

"Why _red_?" Finny snapped at Shredder, taking offense by the fact that he thought her idea stupid.

"Red's my favorite color!" the boy grinned. Finny sighed.

"I got it," Wish said. Neither of them listened to him, too engrossed in their argument, "Like an old married couple…" he mumbled.

"I think blue is nicer! Red is too violent, we're not an attack team!"

"Red symbolizes strength! Without power you can't do _anything_ and we'll never get hired!"

"I said I had an idea," Wish's voice had grown more insistent.

"Not everything requires brute strength! Some things need brains, or heart!"

"If you can't carry out a plan, there's no point to having brains!"

"HEY!" Wish shouted, getting their attention. Both of them flinched, looking in his direction with shock written on their faces. "I said I had an idea," Wish's voice was once more soft and placid.

"Um…. Sure man, what?" Shredder asked, looking uneasy and running a hand through his bronze locks. His hair had gotten longer, he supposed he needed to cut it soon….

"Finny, you're a water mage, and Shredder, you like red, right?" Both of them nodded, "Well, have you heard of the one time of year when the sea turns blood red because of all the algae that grows on the surface? At night it glows blue," Shredder shook his head dumbly, and seeing this, Finny nodded exaggeratedly. She knew this, and he didn't, so if he thought she was smart…..

"The time when that happens is called the red tide, right?" Finny asked. Wish's violet-blue eyes flicked to her gray.

"Yes," he replied, "And I figured that it would be a perfect name for us as it could mean a lot of things. Red Tide; a bleeding sea or a proliferation of life? Blue at night, meaning we have hidden intelligence and heart."

Wish's teammates stared at him in awe.

"Freaking brilliant," Shredder laughed, his customary smile widening.

"Awesome!" Finny sang, "I'm going to go tell Shade and Shine to sign us up."

The boys watched her go. Rather, Shredder watcher her go and Wish watched Shredder as the boy blinked as if dazzled, a small smile forming on the time-mage's tired face.

**I just wanted to add that the red tide is a real occurrence :D**

**It's really pretty.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hai guys! This is chapter fourteen…. Obviously…. I have nothing really interesting to say as an author, I'll just let the story speak for itself. **

Hidden

_Yrid, 4 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X781-_

Shredder's fork fell with a clatter, his mouth dropping open as he heard Finny's news. He looked at her blankly for a moment, bent sideways to grope for his fork on the marble tiles without looking away from her gray eyes, blinked a couple of times and finally found his voice.

"Like, a _real _job?" He asked in shock. It had been almost two months since he had come into Midnight Sun, and as of yet, all he had gotten were stupid jobs, like helping to load boats at the docks, standing in for a knife-thrower in the circus (that one had been fun, he was almost tempted to join the troupe) or having to herd some boars away from the outskirts of town (that one hadn't been fun, he'd gotten knocked on his ass by the biggest pig and then stepped on by all the smaller ones. He'd had a hoof-shaped bruise in the middle of his forehead for a week).

Finny stared at him, almost haughtily as she sighed. It was pretty much the reaction she had expected, but still.

"_Yes_ Shredder, real job. We're going monster hunting," she told him again.

"WOO-HOO!" he yelled, leaping up from his chair so fast it almost flipped over. The people around him jumped, startled by his sudden outburst. "When are we going? Now? What's the reward? I haven't done anything fun for like, four weeks; oh this is going to be _great_!"

"One question at a time! Jeez, you act like a little kid sometimes!" Finny cried over the multitude of inquiries. Wish blinked open one eye. It was midmorning, the time when he was most sleepy, and being roused by Shredder from his slumber put him in a precarious mood: go back to sleep or freeze the knife-happy moron for half a week without food or water?

"We're going tonight, when Wish is actually awake,"

"…. Am 'wake. Unfotunately," Wish mumbled. Finny ignored him and continued.

"The reward is thirty thousand jewels. It's a pretty big monster we're after, borderline S-class."

Shredder's face fell a bit and he knitted his eyebrows together.

"Why not shoot for S-class?" he wondered, "The rewards are good at this level, but it's not the same as a life-or-death struggle…."

"We can't _go _on S-class stupid," Finny snorted derisively to mask the fact that she too was a bit disappointed in her current level, "Only Wish is classified as S-class on our team, we'd get creamed."

Now the boy _definitely _looked mildly insulted.

"I'm an S-class," he announced indignantly, "So it's just _you_ who would get 'creamed'," he put little quotations around the last word. There was a short silence before he mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "I wouldn't let you get hurt though…."

"Fine," Finny snapped to cover her moment of surprise, "The next job we go one, _you _two can pick."

"Yaaaay!" Shredder cheered. Finny almost laughed out loud. Shredder had such a weird personality….

…..

"It's cold," Wish commented as team Red Tide trekked up the side of a mountain that was slick with the frozen rain that had fallen a few hours before. His breath fogged on the air as he walked.

"It's n-not t-t-_that _bad," Finny reprimanded despite the fact that she was shuddering as well. The only one seemingly not affected was Shredder, who was humming cheerily to himself as he led the group. Finny recognized the tune as 'the bear went over the mountain' and resisted the urge to join in.

"Pwahhhh~" Shredder cried, his voice echoing around the dell as they came up to a flat part of mountainside, "This is great!" It had begun to snow, and the knife boy had started running around in the fluffy flakes. He looked back at Finny and grinned, his eyelashes and brows turning white with frost.

Finny laughed as he slid her way across a patch of ice like a skater. The sight was funny, such a gangly boy performing such graceful moves. He halted in front of her, nearly falling over as smooth ice turned into rock.

So much for graceful….

"Come on you," she giggled, "We're going _this _way!"

She pulled on Shredder's wrist, but he didn't come. His muscles tense beneath her hand, she looked at his face, which was now set in a snarl. He shifted slightly in front of her, nearly blocking her view of what lay ahead.

There was a thundering crash that almost caught Finny off balance. Wish was thrown to the ground, being closest to the impact, but he froze the time zone around himself before rocks tumbled onto him in what would have been a body-crushing collapse.

Finny covered her mouth with one hand in shock. The request had said the monster was large and dangerous, but what it had _failed _to mention was that the beast was a full grown Chimaera. Well, considering that no one had survived to tell what the thing was, that made sense…

A gargantuan lion, ten feet tall at the shoulders, spat fire from its lions' head as the twin snakes that served as its tails whipped around furiously, fangs extended, venom dripping and hissing as the rocks melted beneath its acid touch.

"Now _this_," Shredder said with a low laugh, "Is what gives an S-class job and edge,"

Finny nearly flinched as she recognized the maniacal glint in his eyes. It had been absent for almost two months, absent for long enough that she had almost forgotten what the boy before her _really_ was in the face of his good-natured smiles and weird jokes.

She had forgotten that he was a killer.

"Wish," Shredder shouted over the roars of the beast and the rising winds, "Can you get a freeze on that thing?"

Wish's answer was lost in another crashing rock fall as the twin snakes whipped into the cliff face, and the boy disappeared from view behind thousands of pounds of stone. Shredder looked stunned for a moment, and both he and Finny stared at where their friend had been.

"Guess it's just us, then," Shredder said matter-of-factly.

Finny stared at him.

"Our teammate just _died_!" she screamed at the boy, who simply gazed back at her, face devoid of emotion, "How can you be so… so…. Heartless?"

"You're assuming he's dead," Shredder told her, "You should put a little more faith in Wish, he _is _S-class, after all. You don't get to S-class by being a slouch; give the man some credit, woman." His trademark crooked smirk was back on.

Finny suddenly stopped herself. What he said made sense, but still… _still_…!

"Look out!" Shredder's voice crashed through Finny's thoughts, and she felt a pair of hands shove her roughly to the side. She flailed in midair for a moment, twisted to see what had happened, and was buffeted in the slipstream of a fireball as it rushed to where she had been a second before. Heat seared her skin, and she saw Shredder's outline waver in the flames, knives crossed above his head, forming a magic barrier.

Then her head smashed into a rock, and she lost consciousness.

….

"Finny," the hoarse voice called to her, and it was vaguely familiar, "Hey, Finny."

"Wish?" she murmured, opening her eyes. He blinked, his violet irises seeming to glow.

"Okay good, you're awake. I need help."

"Help?" she wondered. She sat up and took in his appearance. He was covered in soot, and dirt, and bruises, but otherwise seemed fine.

"I can't move him on my own," Wish muttered, eyes flicking over his left shoulder.

"Who?"

"_Shredder_," he hissed frantically, "He's being weird…"

Finny looked over Wish's shoulder, and saw the boy on his knees in the snow, his arms crossed with his hands in his armpits. He was rocking back and forth slowly, and she could visibly see his jerky breaths in the way his body twitched. His knife was on the ground beside him, two more blades buried in deep in the Chimaera's skull. The beast was dead, and Shredder drenched in its blood.

As Finny watched, Shredder's hand twitched convulsively. She stood unsteadily, wobbling. Whoa, why was she so dizzy?

She staggered over to the boy, dropping on her knees beside him to see his face.

"Shredder?" she whispered, crossing her arms against the cold, "What's…"

"Take me away," he rasped, eyes hollow, "Take me away, take me away before I…. before I do something…" he groaned as if in pain and doubled over, face nearly touching the snow. He bit his lips so hard they bled. "I…. I _need _to kill…. It's already dead but I want to cut it to pieces…I want to…"

Finny's eyes widened. She could tell what a toll it was taking on him, but he was trying to change. He was really trying to drop his old ways. She realized what blood was to him now; he was a recovering addict, his addiction to death and murder.

"Wish," she cried over the wind, "Here, help me to…." Finny wobbled as stood, collapsing back into the snow. Her head hurt…. She reached up to touch it and her hand came away sticky with crimson.

Shredder stared at her out of the corner of his eye, and the water mage keeled into unconsciousness again.

….

"I bet you just watched her get kicked around, didn't you?" the old man whom Shredder had had several encounters with sneered, "_Didn't you_?"

"That's _enough_, Droon!" Shade barked, and the man flinched, "Shine, get Galice, Wish, tell me what happened."

Shredder was kneeling on the ground, still dripping with blood, cradling Finny's head in his lap. His face was streaked with red, his hands soaked, his eyes hollow.

"This is my fault," he croaked. Wish shook his head.

"No, Shredder… you were just trying to help. If you hadn't done anything, she would have died." The time mage looked back to Shade before extolling the story, "We went to fight a Chimaera… it was too big to get a freeze on, and to cut a long story short, I got caught in a rock fall, Shredder pushed Finny out of the way of a fire blast, and then he killed the thing."

"I'm proud," Shade murmured to Shredder, "You did well."

"No," Shredder whispered, "If I had 'done well' she would be okay. But I should have known. Everything I touch dies."

Wish opened his mouth, but was interrupted as Galice slid on the black tiles in his socks, still pulling a loose white tunic over his head, silver hair tousled. Obviously he had just been pulled from his bed.

"Let me see," the healer commanded, and Wish moved. Galice looked at Shredder, but the boy refused to budge, so the silver haired young man began checking Finny for wounds anyway. He found the gash on the back of her head and healed it in an instant.

"This amount of blood shouldn't have…" Galice looked at Shredder, realization dawning on his pale features, "come from such a small wound." He finished, "You're injured.

"It's nothing, I-"

"Where?"

"I said I'm fine, it's…" Galice had already pulled back Shredder's sleeve, having seen fresh blood dripping from his fingers. Up to his forearms was wrapped in red bandages that had obviously once been white. The linen had begun to unravel, revealing countless wounds in the boy's arms.

"Is the other one the same?" Galice asked solemnly. Shredder pulled his arm back, shaking the sleeve back over the cuts.

"Does it matter?" Shredder snapped, "I deserve this."

"No should have to live in pain, let me…"

"Focus on Finny," the boy said icily.

"But-"

Shredder stood up silently and staggered toward the stairs.

"I'm going to bed," he said flatly, "Wake me up if anything happens to her,"

Wish rose to his feet, speaking to Galice while watching Shredder.

"I trust my partner to you, Galice," He said, following Shredder.

Something was amiss with the boy, and Wish thought he knew what it was.


	15. Chapter 15

Bleeding Hearts

_Yrid, 4 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X781-_

"Shredder?" Wish's soft voice was nearly covered by the clang of the door as it swung shut behind him. The boy was sitting on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees and head in his hands.

"What?" his voice sounded dead, and Wish came closer.

"What's up?"

"The ceiling," Shredder growled.

"No, really," Wish insisted. Shredder didn't answer for a long time, before finally words flowed of their own accord. Seriously, he wondered why he couldn't just keep quiet to these people. He'd never had a problem withholding information from Wild or Ai.

"I love her," he whispered hoarsely, "I love her so much, but I shouldn't."

"Why not?" Wish asked blankly. As far as he could see, there was nothing wrong with loving someone. He suppressed a shiver. The room was dark, filled with shadows, and he tried desperately for Shredder's sake to ignore the glaring red eyes in the darkness.

"It's just… _wrong_! I don't deserve her, and she'll never love me. I've _killed _people, and I'm too weak and selfish to push her away, but the closer I get to her the higher the risk that I'll…. I'll…." Shredder finally raised his head from his hands, looking at Wish with self-directed horror in his eyes, "That I'll kill_ her_."

"You wouldn't do that," Wish said, but he was shocked all the same. Just the fact that Shredder thought he could may prove that he really would do something like that.

Shredder didn't answer, and Wish knew that it was his time to leave. Sometimes, people just needed to be left alone with their own thoughts.

Also, the shadows were getting to him.

….

Finny blinked open her eyes, momentarily confused. She bolted upright, horrified. Where was Shredder? Was he okay? He'd looked like he was losing his mind, and she… she'd felt like… Wait, what hadhappened to her?

The blonde looked around wildly, gray eyes wide. She was back in the guild? And…. Hey, there was Galice! He would know what the hell was going on.

"Galice…" her voice was a raspy mess, barely audible. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Galice,"

This time, the healer turned around. He looked about as bad as she felt, long silver hair in tangles, face pale, bags under his eyes and wearing his pajamas.

"Oh," he walked over to the… stretcher… she was lying on, "You're awake, Finny-san. You lost a lot of blood and hit your head, so I increased your blood cell reproduction rate and sealed the wound. You remember me, apparently, so we'll assume you don't have any memory loss…."

"Where are Wish and… Shredder?" Galice didn't miss the slight hesitation on the knife-wielder's name.

"Ah…" Galice murmured, "Shredder-san…. Isn't doing too well."

Finny blinked. Mild panic welled in her chest, and she didn't know where it was coming from. Perhaps stemming from the fact that Shredder might be hurt? Ooh, ouch, that thought felt like a lance to the heart.

"He's not hurt, is he?" she cried anxiously. Galice flinched, and Finny lowered her voice, quickly remembering Galice's dislike of loud noises.

"He refused treatment," the healer said sadly, "He said I should focus on you, and no one but Wish-san has been able to get into Shredder-san's room since he went up. Wish-san is asleep, and no one wants to wake him up to see what happened up there."

Finny jumped up, and almost collapsed upon impact with the floor.

"Stood up… too fast…" she panted as Galice held her by her elbow for support, "Just gotta go slow, I suppose…"

Rather than running up the stairs to crash her way through the black door that led to Shredder's room like her pounding heart told her to, she walked slowly. She'd get there. Surely a few more minutes couldn't hurt in the grand scheme of things.

…..

Shredder felt hollow. He sat propped up against the wall in the farthest corner of his room, slumped, palms upward and his blood flowing freely onto the black tile. He'd clean it up later, like usual. The bandages were already unraveling, already soaked.

His hollow feeling had nothing to do with blood loss. He'd never had so many emotions ripping through him at once, he was overwhelmed, so he suppressed them. It almost ached how empty he was now.

He couldn't stand it after a few more minutes of sitting there in the silence with nothing but the dripping of crimson to keep him company. But he was scared…. Scared of himself. He snorted. How _pathetic_ could one person be?

He started sorting emotions. The first emotion…. Fear. Not fear of himself, fear for _her_. Fear that Finny might not be okay, that he had caused her pain….

That led to another feeling: self hatred. If he wasn't so stupid, so violent, so humanly _useless_, than her injury could have been avoided. If he had been gentler, if he had shielded her rather than moving her… but his shield could only guard one. Moving her had been necessary, hadn't it? No, no, he should have just died, if it made her happy.

This opened up a well of helpless fury that bred with his fear and hatred and he buried his face in his hands. Why was he so… worthless? He was a waste of space, and time, of energy and air. There was nothing he could do right for anyone. Maybe Wild had hit it right on the mark. Maybe he was meant to be nothing more than a dumping ground for other people.

He roared in anger, tearing the bandages off his arm and causing the bleeding to worsen. It didn't matter, right? He wasn't worth the effort it would take to close the wounds he had inflicted upon himself. He'd _needed_ to hurt something, someone, but he'd sworn off hunting others. He was the only outlet to his own addiction.

Then, right in the throes of his emotional agony, the door that had remained closed for what seemed like ages creaked open. He saw Finny's silhouette outlined in light before she closed the door.

"Don't come over here," he snapped. If she saw him likes this, if she saw him as weak and wretched as he was now, that would hurt worse than all the scars he had. He wanted to be strong for her.

Finny took a step forward, face covered in shadows. Shredder felt like crying. He had to send her away. He had to.

…

"Shredder?" Finny squeaked. His voice had sounded rough with emotion, and she could hear his breathing in the darkness. Only his outline, hunched in the corner was visible. "Are you… okay?"

She took another step forward.

"_I said DON'T COME_!" He roared, and she saw his form move violently as he threw something at her. She flinched, and whatever it was bounced off her arm. It was soft and warm. She bent to pick it up; it was a wad of bandages… soaking wet and drenched in red. Finny felt like throwing up. This was bad. Very bad.

Finny placed her foot down, expecting to find solid ground, but instead she slid on the tile. She lifted her foot from a puddle of…. Oh dear God, don't let that be blood.

"Please," his voice was pleading now, hoarse, as if he was close to tears. She'd thought as a child that real men didn't cry, that crying made a male weak, but now she just felt that being able to express emotion was better than holing it up. "Please, just go away…uhn!"

The small, muffled exhalation of pain caught Finny's attention like an electric light draws the attention of moths. Before she knew what she was doing, the water mage had run the rest of the way to him. She kneeled next to his slumped form, regardless of the fact that the knees of her jeans were getting soaked with red that probably wouldn't come out in the wash.

With trembling hands she gripped his wrists and held them up to her face as to see them. Dozens of thin cuts traveled up his arms on both sides. Knife cuts.

"Are these… from you?" she whispered. Shredder looked away from her, but didn't try to take back his arms. He simply let her hold them there, in her warm hands. Why was she so warm? She was always warmer than him, though he didn't feel the cold like she did… he couldn't feel much of anything, anymore. "You did this? To yourself?"

He couldn't answer past the lump in his throat. He was ashamed. Ashamed that he couldn't shake his habit that easily, ashamed that he was so weak he couldn't bring himself to push her away, ashamed that he had to cause her pain.

"You've been…. Hurting yourself?" he couldn't bear to look at her, couldn't bear to answer, couldn't bear to touch her… but he couldn't send her away now. "You've been hurting yourself so you wouldn't hurt other people? Is that right?"

He still remained silent. What could he say? Yes, I made myself bleed because I need to see suffering? She was disappointed in him, he knew it. Who wouldn't be disappointed with such as sad excuse of a person?

He gasped as she wrapped her arms around him. Her body was shaking, wracked with sobs.

"I know… you try," she wept, "I know you try so hard to stop yourself, but please, _please_ don't do this anymore! Go let Galice fix you! It's… sad… for me to see you like this."

Shredder opened his mouth to tell her. He had to; he couldn't hold it in any longer. He loved her, and he meant to tell her that…

"It's sad for a teammate to get hurt like this!"

Oh, right, a teammate. That's what he was. Not a friend, and certainly nothing that would be material for a 'more than friends' relationship.

"Yeah," he murmured, "yeah."


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Well, in honor of the holidays, I wish you all a very merry Christmas and gift you with this extra chapter…. It DOES fit into the story line, surprisingly :D**

**I hope you enjoy this hopefully non-cliché mistletoe chapter…. Senbei knows what I'm talking about. Thanks for inspiring my, instant box buddy!**

**And Beegirl, no matter how many times you ask, I refuse to send you the chapters early, even if you ARE my best friend… authors have a status to maintain ;D**

Mistletoe Mayhem

"Oh _shit_."

Those being the first two words out of Shredder's mouth on the morning that apparently marked the beginning of the Christmas holidays, there was no way things were going to go anywhere but downhill.

"Oh _ow_, God _dammit_, ahh that hurts!" he cried, hopping around on one foot, holding the other in his hands and swearing between his teeth. Things were not helping when he slammed his shoulder into one of the blackwood bed posts. Being shirtless, only dressed in a pair of overlong, gray pajama pants, the wood dug into his shoulder blade; the boy's swearing increased in volume.

Eventually, he sat on the floor and examined the sole of his foot. After much work, he dug what seemed to be a silver pin out of his foot. Ignoring the blood trickling thinly over his toes, he examined the devilishly sharp object.

"What the _hell,_" he wondered out loud to no one, "is _this_?"

The boy jerked upright as a sudden uproar began outside his bedroom. Quickly tugging on a black t-shirt, foregoing shoes, he threw the door open, only taking time to grab his knife.

"What?" he cried, looking around wildly. There was sudden silence as he stared at what was happening with a completely blank face. Wish was kissing Breezus. _Wish_ was kissing _Breezus_. She was like, _fourteen_! And the time mage was like, what, sixteen? Seventeen?

What the….? Shredder decided that he needed to go back to bed. _Obviously_ he was hallucinating. Because what he had just witnessed would _never_ happen in real life. Because, ya know, Wish wasn't a _pedophile_. Okay, maybe' pedophile' was pushing it, but fourteen and seventeen was a huge maturity gap!

Just as Shredder turned around to squiggle across his tiled floor like a worm and possibly bleach his eyes, he was grabbed by the back of his shirt, whipped around, and virtually _assaulted_ as he was forced to kiss… wait, who _was_ that? Wha…. Shredder trembled in shock like a startled rabbit.

Wait, hold on, what just happened? The boy let out a frustrated scream and bolted back into his room, locking the door and breathing heavily. He ran to his calendar and looked at the date. December 13… okay, his 'birthday'… which no one had yet to wish him happy on… and December…. Approaching Christmas…

Mistletoe.

The thought hit him like a ton of bricks. There was mistletoe out there.

_Who would _do _such a horrible thing?_

Shredder paused to collect himself. Okay, so that meant that there wasn't anything _really _going on between Wish and Breezus, thank God, and that explained why his mouth had more or less been raped in the hallway… but how was he going to get breakfast like this? Outside was pretty much the apocalypse in his mind, and… what if he ran into Finny?

The very thought made his blood run cold. He'd been planning to start avoiding her as much as a teammate could, but this… this would be… oh, he didn't even want to think about that.

Okay, yes, he _did_ want to think about it, and he would have much rather been kissed by Finny than whoever _that_ had been out there, but too late now.

The knife wielder stood up shakily, using his dresser as support. After he brushed his teeth, he opened his door slowly and glanced up, spotting a sprig of mistletoe pinned to the doorframe with a silver pin. Oh, so that was the reason he was bleeding through the bottom of his foot? Brilliant. Maybe he should buy a pair of carpet slippers….

Pressing himself flat against the wall, Shredder slid past mistletoe and sighed. He took a cautious step forward, eye glued to the ceiling… and almost tripped over Wish. Regaining his balance, he looked down. Wish stared blankly up at him, apparently zoned out.

"The mistletoe…" the time-mage gasped, "It's gonna kill me…."

"Come on buddy," Shredder gritted out, steeling himself for the long trek downstairs, "We'll get through this together."

"Just don't step under any of those damn white berries. No offence, but I really don't want to kiss you."

Shredder laughed uneasily. No no, he would rather stab himself to death than kiss Wish.

…

The pair of them stood back to back, Shredder staring at the ceiling and watching for mistletoe, calling instructions to Wish, and Wish making sure they didn't run into anything. Needless to say, progress down the three flights of stairs was slow.

"Agh! Left left left left left left left!" Shredder screamed in panic. Wish veered sharply, for once sleep being the last thing on his mind. No, this was _far _too dangerous for sleep. All around them there were happy couples making out under the cursed white berries, and then there were the unhappy couples, thrown together by a cruel twist of fate. A quick peck and they were done, but seriously, it was weird…. Like, if Beyah had kissed Vex, and then kissed Fennel, that meant that Fennel indirectly kissed Vex, who was his older brother. At this rate, the whole freaking guild would be infected with herpes.

There was a specific _guild rule_ that all holiday traditions were to be followed, and that included mistletoe.

"Right…. Yeah, just a slight turn and we should be good. Stop! Okay, slide to the left. We can't go left? Fine, slide to the right, just DO NOT step forward." Shredder cried. Right now, he had other things on his mind, but no one had wished him a happy birthday, and he'd been out of his room and mistletoe-dodging for about an hour…. Well, he hadn't really expected anything. He'd never had a birthday before, so he wasn't too disappointed.

Finally the pair of them made it to the dining hall; Shredder and Wish gapped open-mouthed. The room had been decorated in silver streamers, snow (real, but strangely not cold) fell from small clouds blown about by Breezus, tiny ice sculptures were on every table, and a Christmas tree stood in each corner, presents, one for each member, underneath.

"Uh…" Shedder poked Wish weakly, "does this sort of thing _normally _happen?"

"Yeah," the time-mage replied, "You should have seen what happened on Saint Patrick 's Day…"

Unfortunately, not even the dining hall was free of the white berries of doom; the nestled in the least likely of places… over the bar where one got food, on top of the utensil containers, in the sink tap, above every chair, dangling on the notice board… Shredder bent a fork and snagged a chair, maneuvering it over to a thankfully berry-free corner.

He flopped into the seat, still in his pajamas. Well, so was everyone else, it was the weekend and only about nine o'clock in the morning. Wish dragged over a seat next to Shredder and promptly fell asleep, apparently at ease now that the danger had more or less passed. As long as no one walked by and specifically put those damn berries above him, he'd be fine.

This left the knife-wielder to his own thoughts. What were birthdays _normally_ like, he wondered. Not this chaotic, he hoped. If it was like this for everyone, he had to question the world's sanity. Hah, that was funny, a crazy person questioning everyone else's mental state. But really, he had heard other people wishing each other happy birthday… Kazin's birthday had been last week, and he had received gifts and a cake, hadn't he?

Well, no one in the guild but Wish and… Finny… could really be considered his _friends_… he supposed Shade and Shine counted too, and maybe Vex, seeing as the dark young man wasn't deterred from him… or maybe the video-gamer was just so pessimistic he figured that if he died he was better off? Vex looked slightly reminiscent of a koala now that he thought about it… a dirty koala. (**Warning: that last bit was an inside joke, so it doesn't really have any significance to the story. Sorry ^^)**

…

The rest of the day passed in similar fashion. Shredder never _did _make it upstairs to change clothes, so by one in the afternoon, he was still in his pajamas. He wasn't the only one either… Ariss had had no qualms with passing under the mistletoe, so she was fully dressed and oddly cheerful. Shade and Shine traveled through shadows and light, never actually _underneath_ the white berries in a physical sense. Wish hadn't moved since that morning, so was still in the same clothes as the night before too…

Shredder looked up from where he was moping in his seat and caught sight of a blonde with ochre skin. Finny.

She was still in her nightgown, standing pressed against the wall in a desperate attempt to save herself. Her slim, sleeveless gown showed off her figure quite nicely… She looked over suddenly and caught him staring. Shredder tried desperately to make it look like he hadn't been doing anything, and failed miserably.

…

Finny was forgetting something. Something to do with Shredder…. She just had no idea _what_, and it was really bothering her. As she stretched on tiptoes to avoid those cursed pale berries, she felt a prickling like she was being watched… she glanced over at the corner and saw Wish snoring in a chair… and Shredder staring at her. The second they locked eyes the boy started whistling and looking in the opposite direction.

Hm. That wasn't conspicuous at all.

Though really, she would have to talk to Shade and Shine about this stupid Christmas tradition. It was a sure way to spread diseases and on top of that it made everything awkward and hard to manage.

What _was _she forgetting?

….

Shredder sighed. Finny had stopped gazing at him with those silver eyes, and she now had a look of intense concentration upon her face. He wondered what she was thinking about before turning to more pressing matters.

How was he going to survive the rest of the month?

….

It suddenly clicked in Finny's head. Whipping around, she barked at the nearest member to her right.

"What's today's date?"

Zash jumped visibly, the boy giving her a startled glare as he tried to cover his moment of fear.

"T-the thirteenth," he replied, voice shaking slightly.

Finny's eyes widened. The thirteenth of December. Shredder's assigned birthday!

"Ahhh!" she cried, dodging couples. She hadn't gotten him anything for his birthday! She hadn't even _remembered_ until just now! Surely that explained the dejected look on his face and why he was sitting in a corner with a sleeping Wish!

What was she going to do? What….

Oh.

That was a good idea.

…..

Shredder sighed to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. It took a lot to make him feel that flutter in his stomach, that sort of mild panic, but the thought of having to avoid the white berries of death, the heralds herpes, until the twenty fifth… meaning another twelve days of torture…. sent him into a fit of pale terror.

As he stared at the floor, his sight lit upon a pair of bare, sandal-tanned feet. His gaze led him up to Finny's face, smiling brightly at him.

Crud. Mission: Avert Tidal Wave was a failure.

Then he saw what she was holding above him. A bunch of white berries. Ohhh no, that was _not_…!

Her lips met his for a brief moment that seemed to last both an eternity and a nanosecond all at once before she put her lips close to his ear.

"That's for saving me… and happy birthday," she murmured, trying to hide the bright flush that had crept across her cheeks. She spun on her heel and walked away briskly.

That… that _had _been for his birthday! Not because she, ya know, _liked_ him or anything. Strictly for the sake of holiday tradition.

Yeah, right.

…

Shredder stared blankly ahead, tiny fireworks going off in his brain.

If that's what all birthday's were like, he kind of wanted his to come around a second time… people complained about getting old, but honestly…. In exchange for _that_, it was no big deal at all.

….


	17. Chapter 17

Changeless

_Yrid, 4 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X781-_

Shredder began keeping his distance. If Finny sat down beside him, he'd get up and move elsewhere, avert his gaze from her entirely, and if completely necessary, he'd answer her in clipped, uneasy answers. This went on for two weeks before Finny finally snapped.

"What's the _matter_ with you?" she barked at the boy one morning over breakfast. Wish rubbed his eyes sleepily, watching the exchange with mild interest and withdrawing his foot from the aisle in which it stuck to avoid Kova and Kazin trampling his leg.

"Nuthin'," Shredder replied in a noncommittal tone, picking at his food and staring at his fork as it stabbed into a pile of scrambled eggs, courtesy of Issell, the girl who was head of the kitchen in Midnight Sun.

"Don't 'Nuthin'" Finny mimicked Shredder's posture and lowered her voice, placing quotations around the second word, "_me_, mister Jax!" The woman slammed her hand, palm flat, onto the table. Shredder jumped and glanced up for a fraction of a second, paling slightly as his gaze met hers. She had thought things were going so well after his birthday…!

"I…. uh…. I gotta go," he said quickly, taking his still full plate and heading towards where Ariss sat.

Wish blinked owlishly at Finny as she snarled under her breath.

"I think it's best you just give him some space," the time mage yawned.

"But… he's being _weird_!" She groaned.

Wish stared blankly at her.

"And your point is….?" He wondered. Finny rolled her eyes.

"Weirder than usual. He's not cracking awkward jokes, I haven't seen him smile _naturally_ in like, twelve days, and he seems to have stopped eating."

Wish shrugged and jerked his head as if that explained everything. "Some things a man cannot tell a woman." He said sagely.

Then he passed out, forehead smacking painfully onto the wooden table. Finny looked over at where Shredder seemed to be trying to explain something to Ariss in earnest, ignoring Wish's snoring despite the fact that it drowned out the knife wielders words.

…

"Why are you over here again?" Ariss asked, staring at her cousin with heavily lidded eyes.

"Cause it's awkward over there."

"You mean it's awkward to sit with that girl you almost killed because you're so damn klutzy? Or is it because she kissed you?" the woman gasped sarcastically. Shredder stiffened and didn't answer. "Okay, okay sorry, it was a joke. Jeez, get a grip already, you're acting like a girl."

"Look, it's not that _easy_," Shredder cried, waving his fork in the air before shoveling eggs into his mouth. Holy crap, why was he so hungry all of a sudden?

"_What's _not that easy?"

"… Iff fink Imf iinth loughhfts Finth," Shredder mumbled, mouth full.

"Uh-huh, right, because I know what you just said." Ariss said a bit coldly. Shredder swallowed apologetically.

"I said…" he leaned in conspiratorially, eyes darting over to glance at Finny for a split second before staring into a face that could have belonged his twin sister, "I think I'm in love with Finny.."

"You're what?" Ariss snapped. Shredder looked at her, a bit hurt. "Don't give me that look. We're outsiders, remember? She was forced onto a team with you, she probably doesn't even like you, let alone love you." There was a pause, and then "She has every right to hate you; you're a killer in their eyes, remember?"

"Oh… right," Shredder murmured, "I forgot."

"No you didn't, you liar," Ariss' eyes softened as she said this, "You were just hoping for something better."

There was a long silence in which Shredder put down his fork and just stared at his hands. At last he looked up at his female counterpart.

"Riss?" he asked, calling her by the pet name he hadn't used with her since they had come to Midnight Sun, "Do you think a man can change?"

"No," Ariss murmured, "And he'll just end up hating anyone who asks him to."

"Alright," Shredder whispered, "Then things are fine like this…. Just like this."

…

Over the next few weeks, Shredder gradually slipped back into the rhythm of things, pushing his feelings for Finny deep into a corner of his heart, right next to his memories of his mother. He was very good at hiding, extremely adept at smothering emotion.

A denizen of the night.

He crept up to his room, dead exhausted after team Red Tide's most recent escapade, putting down a group of thieves _without _killing them. It had been harder than expected, with Wish only able to freeze half of them. Finny had cuffed the frozen ones, and Shredder had wandered off into the other half of their base… only to get _jumped_ by the rest of the thugs.

The knife master sighed as he slumped into his bed, asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Downstairs, Finny finished divvying up the payments from the last job. After scooping her own share of the jewels into a bag, she left Wish to take care of his own payment. That left Shredder's money still on the table, open for any greedy hands to take. The blonde sighed like a mother who has to pick up her son's toys off the floor and swept the remaining dough into a separate bag, ascending the stairs to Shredder's room.

She opened the door slowly, and then giggled as she spotted him snoring openly, still in his shoes even, on the bed.

She snuck over, bag in hand. With a tender smile she swept the hair out of the boy's eyes…

The second her hand touched his face, Shredder's eyes snapped open. There was a blur and Finny squeaked with shock more than pain as she felt a hard grip around her wrist, turning her tanned skin white with pressure.

Shredder seemed to come to himself, breathing heavily as he released her arm.

"I-I…" Finny swallowed, trying to still her shaking voice, "I brought your payment,"

She placed it on the bedside table and left, Shredder still trembling slightly.

Here was the perfect example of why people like him were not allowed to love people like her.

…

_Yrid, 1 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X784-_

Shredder sat with his booted feet kicked up on the table, arms dangling off the sides of the chair limply, head back, eyes closed and mouth slightly open as he dozed in his chair. Across from him, Wish was slumped over face to the wood, sleeping just as soundly.

Shade and Shine came down the stairs with Finny, chattering happily about something or other as Shredder cracked open one eye, closing his mouth and dropping back onto all four chair legs sleepily. He wondered what was up that the Masters had such happy smiles on their faces…

In the past two years, the guild had seemed to forget about his transgressions, accepted him as one of their own, albeit, a strange one that needed watching… that psychotic black ram that the shepherd had to keep a close eye on to make sure it didn't gore the competition in the herd. All had accepted him… all but Droon. But that was alright, that old man posed no problem, not now.

The twins split away from Finny, going into a side room as the blonde came and drew up a seat beside Wish.

"Nnnnnh…." Shredder groaned, putting his elbows on the table and covering his head with his hands, "Sleepy…."

"Huh, and I thought only Wish could be such a glutton for sleep," Finny snorted with amusement.

"Hey…" Wish mumbled drowsily.

"I'll have you know," Shredder's words were punctuated by a yawn, "I was quite busy last night!"

"With what," Finny asked derisively, "A girl?" She asked this not to poke fun, but… if it _was _a girl… she didn't know what she would do if that happened. Lately her emotions had been going more haywire than usual around the knife master.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Shredder laughed, kicking back in his chair again, hands behind his head as a pillow. Finny pouted moodily, opening her mouth to say something. She halted as the chair Shredder was in skittered onto all four legs, now empty. She saw a feral blur streak to the door, a shimmering flash blazing through the air as a knife was drawn.

Just as Shredder reached the door it exploded inward, fiery sparks crackling through the air with a burning smell, singing the knife wielders skin. He loosed a wild laugh, it was exhilarating… it felt wonderful, he was the very embodiment of death… shit, he was losing control… he reigned himself in, focusing on his opponent.

A tall man with his coat thrown over shoulders rippling with power like a cape, an arrogant, demeaning face, short and spiky blonde hair, headphone, a scar slashed through one eye. Strong but nothing a little tweaking couldn't take care of. Hostile intentions? Perhaps. There was no time to waste asking, however. Shredder lunged, blade careening toward the man's uninjured eye…

A black gloved hand darted in front of his blade, and Shredder halted his assault instinctively. He froze where he stood, the sparks dimming in the air.

"Shredder," Shade spoke in a firm, even voice, "Look at me."

The boy raised his multicolor eyes to the dark gaze of his Master.

"Are you in control?" she asked him, speaking slowly just in case he was slipping.

"Yes," the gangly boy said lowly, standing upright, knife dangling in loose fingers, eyes to the floor.

"I would appreciate it if you did not attack guests," Shade reprimanded in a mock-severe voice, "Althought, Laxus, blowing up the door like that, Shredder does get a little leeway… ha, he would have gotten you, if I hadn't stepped in! Admit it!"

"Oh shut up," Laxus muttered.

"Laxus…?" Wish murmured in his sleep.

"He hasn't changed much," the Fairy Tail wizard snorted, "This the one that Gramps had to check over to admit to the guild?" he jerked his head in Shredder's general direction.

"Yup. Got along well with Macky, didcha Shredder?"

"Yeah," the boy said lowly, eager to be out of the way. He was burning with shame. He had almost lost control… that hadn't happened in a long time… _damn_, he'd thought he'd been doing better. He nodded to the three of them (Shine had now joined the little circle) and stalked away, slamming into the chair next to Finny and glaring darkly at Laxus.

"So what are you doing here?" Shine asked the tall man who towered easily over the pair.

"Just got back from a job and figured I'd drop in," he replied ill-temperedly, "And on the way back I hear in a bar that Gramps has been picking up damn _strays _again; really weaklings. He even let in a couple of people from Phantom Lord."

"The guild that tried to crush you guys?" Shade giggled.

"And failed miserably?" Shine finished.

"I wouldn't say 'miserably'. Phantom Lord was a guild pretty much as weak as they come, and Fairy Tail _still _received a couple of casualties. The old man is useless."

"Oh come on now Laxus, you're guild is pretty high up there on the list of legal guilds!" Shade consoled the man.

"Not high enough. You're at the top of the mercenary guild list, and I plan to be better than you guys." The man snorted, "The thought of losing to you…"

"Aw, is Laxus jealous~?" Shine taunted.

"I'm out," the Laxus grunted, turning away.

"After blowing up our door, you're leaving so soon?" Shade pouted.

"Like I said, I only came to check in…" his eyes dropped onto Shredder who was still glaring violently, "And to make sure you weren't falling behind and being reduced to picking up trash and strays like gramps."

Laxus swept out of the room, leaving nothing but a broken door in his wake. As Shade and Shine tried to get Shredder to reverse the damage on the door, Shredder narrowed his eyes.

Was that what he was to everyone else? Trash?

Smug bastard. They'd see who was trash in the end, wouldn't they?

….

**A/N: For clarification…. You all remember when Laxus came back to the guild and kicked the crap out of Gajeel, right? This is directly preceding that scene. I figured that if Laxus thought Fairy Tail was falling behind, that would fuel his fury at the 'strays' the Makarov was letting into the guild. If you DON'T remember that scene, well, then, that whole last bit might not make sense. Sorry!**

**Please review, yeah?**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Happy New Years guys! How is it that I end up updating on all these holidays? Well, anyway, special thanks to Beegirl13, who sat in my chair and spouted off ideas until we eventually got THIS lovely arrangement which you are about to read. Bee, I know you had to leave before I finished, but I hope you like this ;D**

**Please review ya'll!**

Backtrack 

_Yrid, 1 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X784-_

Shredder glared angrily at Laxus' retreating back, eventually whipping his head around to look at something else before he went nuts. The guy…. For some reason, he really _really _pissed Shredder off. He had indirectly insulted both he and Ariss, as well as several others in his guild…

Wait, was that _guild pride_? What the heck? That was definitely weird, he didn't know half the people in the building, and that was being generous. He shook his head, fury draining out of him to be replaced with mild exhaustion. He whacked his forehead against the edge of the table, hard enough to cause Finny to jump.

"What are you _doing_?" she cried, looking at the back of his head as he remained slouched over.

"Everything," he mumbled.

"Uh, I bet," Finny replied with a slight roll of the eyes. Shredder sighed and took to his feet, headed toward the stairs and flipping his knife between his fingers. "Where are you going?"

"Upstairs, woman. I'm headed toward the stairs, where _else _would I be going? Up the chimney?" He asked, rolling his head back to look at the water mage upside down.

"Well fine then!" Finny snorted, "Be that way!"

Shredder waved in a casual, one handed salute as he started up the steps. The noise faded into the background slightly, becoming one muddled roar as he went higher and higher, feeling as if he were walking to the clouds themselves. Recently he had been moved to a third floor room with a window. At first he had figured that having a window would be great. In the newly expanded guild, getting a room with a window was like getting free beachfront property.

Except he was on the third floor.

No matter _how _tired he was, he _had _to climb up that marble spiral stair case. The bottom was sweeping wide, sure, but the two colors of marble melded together to form one twisting case. He had actually crashed with Wish a couple of times just because he was too lazy to climb the stairs. The lucky time-mage had gotten in good with Shade and somehow managed to rope himself a room on the second floor, only a few steps away from the bottom floor, and more importantly, the food.

Damn, it took _forever _to just get a friggin' midnight snack!

The knife master sighed to himself, tempted to just sit down on the spot and hopefully not trip anyone going up or down. He decided to go on, not willing to take the risk of getting his face tattooed with a footprint.

At long last he reached the end of the stairs, but to his dismay, a rather unfriendly face greeted his victory.

Droon stood leaning against the sill of the huge window that took up most of the back wall of the third floor in the center wing. Shredder lowered his eyes, making a desperate attempt to ignore the man. Seriously, after having come so close to losing control all but moments earlier, he didn't want to take a chance with anything else.

Unfortunately Droon was not in a mood to be ignored. The older man caught Shredder by the arm as the boy walked past, effectively stopping the boy in his tracks.

"The master's may have accepted you into this guild, but it's no place for rats like you."

Shredder said nothing, did nothing. He was using most of his self control to just not _rip out Droon's eyeballs_.

"You should leave before something happens. To you or _others_."

"This is my home now," Shredder responded flatly.

"Your _home_?" Droon mocked, "Home is where the heart is boy, and you don't seem to have one. You may think you've changed since you first came here, but you're still a monster. Always will be."

Shredder looked over his shoulder and said coldly, "It seems you and I are the same then."

Droon purpled with rage, infuriated by the fact that Shredder refused to rise to the bait.

"You… if you attack anyone else in the guild you'll be thrown out. Sent to jail; maybe executed."

"And?" Shredder raised one eyebrow as if the conversation was of very little interest to him, "I'm not planning on doing anything of that nature."

Droons' features lit up with savage glee.

"You're _very_ fond of that girl Finny, aren't you?"

Shredder's eyes widened.

"And if… something… were to happen to her face, just a few scars… you would get angry, am I right?"

Shredder strove to remain calm, his pulse pounding at racing speed in his temples.

"Angry enough to kill who ever had given her such agony?"

The knife master began to tremble, memories flooding his mind.

"I'm going to get her."

…

_ "Shredder, what's your problem!" Finny snapped, "I can fight you know!"_

_ "Yeah, I know, but you're… a girl… and I don't want you to get hurt," Shredder muttered, rubbing the back of his head, mildly embarrassed._

_ "I knew what I was signing up for when I joined the guild Shredder. Even if I'm not S-class like you and Wish, I want a chance to fight too… I survived before you got here, and I can survive on my own now."_

_ "Uh…. Yeah," the knife master agreed reluctantly as Finny turned on heel and stomped off. The three of them had recently finished up a job that required fighting of some Vulcans. Finny had been perfectly prepared to do battle, and Shredder had stepped in, completing the attack before the water mage had even had a chance to try._

_ Finny then surprised both Shredder and Wish by coming back, a flyer in hand. She shoved it roughly at Shredder, thrusting the paper into him with her hand flat against his chest. She held her fingers there for a moment longer than necessary, and realizing this blushed furiously, telling him to stop staring at her and just read all ready._

_ Shredder stared at the paper, blinking in shock._

_ "Another job? Already?" He wondered out loud._

_ "Yes, the S-class exams are coming up soon for this year and I want to enter, so… I need as much practice as possible, if _someone_ would stay out of my way," she shot a mild glare at Shredder, who winced._

_ "Alright, alright…. Let's see…. We have to go all the way to the Waas Forest?"_

_ "Yeah, it's a long distance trip, I know, just put up with it."_

_ "Okay, fine, long distance and a change of scenery is good, but why do we have to fight some sort of crazy chaos demon?" Shredder was smirking and looking worried simultaneously._

_ "If I can take out a chaos demon, then I can pass the S-class exam."_

_ "And… if you can't….?" Shedder asked. Finny simply glared at him and turned on heel, hair whipping over her shoulder. The knife master and the time mage exchanged looks, sighed in unison, and followed their stubborn partner._

…_.._

_ "So now that we're here," Wish mumbled, leaning exhaustedly against a tree for support, "Do you have any idea how to find this thing?"_

_ "I would say we start walking an look for signs of destruction, obviously," Finny pointed in the direction of a crushed bush._

_ "Noooo way, I'm staying right here until the world stops spinning," Shredder complained. He really hated traveling, and consequently had spent the whole ride hanging upside down on his chair out of boredom. When he had stood up, he'd gotten the world's worst head rush. _

_ "That's your own dang fault, come on," Finny huffed. She began walking in the other direction, toward the broken vegetation. Shredder and Wish stumbled woozily after her, dearly wishing for a moment of rest._

_ The three came upon a clear pond rimmed with lush grass, lilies growing on the crystal clear surface. Finny halted to admire the view for a second, gazing at the still water._

_ The water rippled._

_ "Did one of you throw something?" she asked the two behind her. _

_ "Haaah?" Shredder wheezed from his position on the floor. Wish didn't answer, as he'd fallen asleep with his back against a thick oak._

_ The water rippled again as Finny looked back. A third time now, but it was more than a ripple, the pond seemed to be trying to escape its banks now._

_ "What…" a dull thud reached her ears as the water leapt at her shoes, "Footsteps?"_

_ A loud crash echoed as the tree right across from the pool broke in half before the tusks of what seemed to be a giant crimson boar with fiery spikes ridging its back, hooves churning the earth._

_ "Is that… self-cooking bacon?" Shredder cried, sitting up, "Finny, let's get us some o' that!"_

_ "That's the demon, dummy!"_

_ "And that's a problem how, exactly? Wait, are demons inedible?"_

_ Finny face-palmed and started around the pool._

_ "Wait, where are you going?" Shredder called after her._

_ "To fight, obviously," she shouted back._

_ "Shouldn't we get Wish first?"_

_ Finny ignored him. She was doing this on her own; she was strong, and she was independent, she didn't need Shredder on her heels all the time. It was thoughtful of him, but she needed to be able to do things herself… and sometimes, in the face of his strength, he made her feel pretty useless. This was her way of redemption._

_ Raising her hands high above her head she created a tidal wave from the pond, directing it at the flaming pig. The water extinguished the fire, but enraged the swine, which snorted and charged, tusks uprooting trees with their tips. _

_ Finny saw Shredder's mouth move as he tried to drag Wish out of the danger zone, but she couldn't hear his words over the splintering of wood. Shrapnel bounced off her body, a few pieces scratching or piercing her skin, but not enough to cause very much damage._

_ The battle raged for minutes, and Finny was beginning to run out of energy. Her magic was depleted, and she couldn't… couldn't…_

_ She found herself face up on the ground, a shield of glass-like liquid between her and the crushing weight of the boar. She glanced over at Shredder, who had shed his long coat in favor of the black sleeveless top she had given him as a Christmas present, drawing his blade as he came._

_ "DON'T HELP ME!" she screamed, and he stumbled to a halt, pain etched clearly on his face. Why did he have to make such a face, she'd be fine, she'd be _fine…_!_

_ Her anger at being so helpless tapped extra magic in her system, and the water spiraled into a drill-like formation, driving through the heart of the monster…_

_ But not before its hoof came down on her legs._

…_._

_ Shredder sat with his back against the wall of the Oshibana Hospital of Magi, outside in the freezing air. His breath fogged as he stared up at the sky with one leg out in front of him, the other drawn in with his arm draped across his knee. He was two cities away from Onibus now… a strange thought. But it cleared out of his mind as it began to snow. He was still in his sleeveless shirt, jacket balled up on the ground next to him._

_ He'd been right there, and he hadn't done _anything_. He gave an inarticulate roar, drawing in his other knee and resting both elbows of them, then slamming his face into his fists. He stayed like that as a soft flump announced the arrival of Wish._

_ "She's awake now," the time mage said._

_ "Great," Shredder replied woodenly, "How long will she be like that?"_

_ "In the casts? Three months. Maybe less."_

_ "I'd love it if you would stop talking about me like I'm not here," Finny's voice floated around the edge of the building as she came around on crutches. Both her legs were in black casts up to her knees, and she was using only upper body strength to keep herself up. "You're such a baby, Shredder," she giggled, "You're acting like I died."_

_ He stared at her, scrambling up to his feet and nearly stomping on Wish._

_ "Finny- I'm sorry, I should've- Your legs-"_

_ He was abruptly stopped from speaking as a large snowball, gather directly out of the air, smacked wetly into his face._

_ "Pthfluh," he spat the snow out of his mouth and cleared his eyes. Finny watched him with a smirk on her lips, another snowball at the ready and a hoard more putting themselves together out of individual flakes as they fell._

_ "You talk too much," she grinned._

_ "Hey, that's not fair!" Shredder complained, looking at the ground for useable snow._

_ "Ah, but I'm a cripple, therefore you get a handicap in this game," she told him teasingly. All the ice balls behind her rushed forward in a deluge of icy whiteness. At a loss, Shredder grabbed Wish and dragged the dozing boy in front of himself._

_ "HUMAN SHIELD!" he cried wildly, all the impact absorbed by the time mage._

_ Finny started laughing, so hard she almost fell off her crutches._

_ Shredder smiled when he saw her beaming face. _

I'll never let anyone take her away, _he thought, _not ever.

…

The knife master roared, not even bothering to draw his blade. Before he even knew what he was doing, his hand was at Droon's throat, choking him as he at last took the time to use the knife.

With another wordless howl the boy started in, razor edge cutting through flesh like wet paper.

"You. Will. _NOT_," Shredder spat, feral eyes piercing Droon. The man seemed to realize what he had done only after the knife descended on him several more times.

He began to cry.

Shredder began to laugh.

…..

Downstairs, Finny remembered why she had come over to Shredder's table in the first place. The blue plaid boxers she had found caught in the dryer of the guild washroom were conveniently marked 'S. Jax' on the tag. Well, handing the underwear to him out in the open would have been awkward, so she figured it was better that she had to give it to him upstairs.

Finny started up the steps, unaware of the violence on the top floor.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter… and Bee, FYI, I just made this up as I talked to you on New Year's Eve, I had no idea I was going to write this… so in a way, you helped with this chapter too ;D**

** Also, just for Bee, take note of the fact that Droon is called 'worm' and then think back to when we washed my car…. Those worms are still stuck to my pavement…. ^^'**

That's Okay

Shredder stood up, swaying, and stared at Droon as the bleeding man tried to crawl away, dragging himself across the floor with one arm. The knife master spat in disgust. All that, and this man was truly nothing but an insect. Too bad for him Shredder really hated bugs, especially those that threatened to sting people he cared about.

"You think I'll let you crawl away, worm?" he snarled lowly, planting his foot in the small of Droon's back and grinding down on his kidney, "Not after the shit you pulled. You're gonna wish you'd never been born, and even more than that, you're gonna regret that you ever tried to screw with my head. I'm going to make it so you can't even get out of bed ever again, let alone hurt her."

"Please!" the old man sobbed, struggling to roll over as Shredder removed his boot from the body, "Please no more, I'm sorry, I won't do anything!"

"Begging for your life is just sad, bastard," the tall boy snapped, kicking Droon into the wall, with his back to the stairs. The old man rolled into the solid marble with a sharp cry, his blood making the tile slippery. Droon was weeping, his whole body shaking with sobs. For some reason, Shredder found that funny. It was all so damn ridiculous. What the hell was he even _doing_? Like Droon could actually do anything to Finny, she was the Masters' best friend. But still, _still_….

"P-please…" the old man choked, looking somewhere past Shredder, "Help me…. He's gone crazy…!"

"Who the hell are you even talking to you piece of shit?" Shredder rumbled in an offhand sigh, walking over and planting the sole of his boot in the man's face. He squealed piteously, thrashing around in a sad attempt to escape. Flecks of blood scattered everywhere, including Shredder's face. The boy tasted blood as some of the red spray passed his lips. He growled in disgust, turning around to go back, but he almost ran into someone.

Oh shit, someone had _seen _that?

Who?

"S-Shredder, what…." Finny's voice was broken with shock and horror, "What are you…" he bag fell onto the bloodied tile with a soft _splash-tmp_ as she backed up a pace from him, gray eyes widening.

"Finny, this isn't what it looks like, I-"

"_Shut up_!" she screamed, "This isn't what it looks like? So you weren't just killing Droon? Don't lie to me!" the hurt on her face was unbearable, it made his chest ache. The betrayal that marred her features was terrible, painful, and he wanted to look away in shame.

"I thought you changed!" she was starting to cry now, "I thought you'd gotten over this obsession with death, the addiction to murder! I thought you were one of us!"

"I _am, _just Finny, you have to listen to me, he-" Shredder took a step forward and reached out to her, his bloody fingers almost touching her before she jerked back. She was standing on the very edge of the stairs, heels hanging dangerously over the edge as she tried to evade a threat that didn't exist.

"Don't touch me!" she sobbed, "Don't touch me you monster! What's _wrong _with you? Why are you _doing _this to me!" she looked up at him, shivering, "You think you're the only one this hurts? If you get sent away because of this, do you know how much that will hurt _me_? You probably don't even think about that!"

Behind them, Droon began to drag himself closer to Finny. Even if he died, if the girl fell, the boy would live forever in agony… or kill himself and flee straight into the depths of Hell. The man crept ever closer, not even listening to the words the pair was exchanging. They paid him no mind. Ah, the girl seemed to be pleading something from the boy now. Droon was so far gone he couldn't hear their words, he couldn't even remember their names, or why he was doing what he was, but he had one objective.

_Kill the girl, break the boy. Kill the girl, break the boy. __**Kill the girl**_**.**

"Shredder please, please, stop this," Finny wailed as Shredder stopped to lick away the trail of blood that had dripped down one of the knuckles he had scraped while beating Droon, "what you're doing… it's not like you!"

To her, who had no concept of why he was doing what he was, it must have looked like he was out on a joy killing, not a duty murder. He understood that… but why couldn't she have some _faith _in him? Was all of his effort that…. _Worthless?_

"_Then what is like me_?" the knife master roared, oblivious to the creeping demise of the girl before him that was crawling in from behind. Finny squeaked and shied back a bit at the harshness of his tone. "What _am _I?" he asked more softly, "I've _always _been called 'dog', 'monster', 'brat', 'murderer'…. So what am I, Finny? Tell me."

"You're part of Midnight Sun," she whispered, "you're part of my team, you're part of my family."

Shredder stopped. What she said was true, but even so, he was also part of the darkness, part of the Onibus slums, part of the scum that had gathered beneath Ai. Was he part of the light or part of the darkness? Or perhaps he was simply a faded shadow, not truly a denizen of the night nor a dweller or the day, but something that didn't belong to either, something that had no home; a monster of the twilight, a being of the sunset that turned the sea red and caused children to cry in fear of the oncoming darkness.

He looked at Finny sadly, and reached out to her again, and this time she didn't shy away, she simply stared at him with teary gray eyes the color of the nighttime ocean. Their fingers brushed…..

And Finny's hand began to fall away.

Shredder looked back, eyes wide as he noticed Droon. The dying man had grabbed the water mage's ankle and pulled with the last of his strength. Finny, already dangerously close to the edge, had lost her balance, tottered backwards…. And would soon begin her tumble down three flights of spiraling marble stairs.

The knife master lunged, and his hand met hers. Without looking into her face, Shredder pulled Finny into him and held her close, using his body as a shield as they fell. The world seemed to run in slow motion as a thought crossed Shredder's mind.

_If I die for her… then that's okay. Things are okay, just like this._

He gasped as his back came into contact with the first ridge of the stair, hearing something crack in his body as his head was whipped back. He flipped over, landing on his side so hard that the pain took his breath away…. He found himself unable to inhale again.

Shredder closed his eyes and smiled.

If he died for her, that was okay.

…

Finny couldn't see what was going on, and she had no idea what had happened. Everything had moved as if in a blur. One moment she was reaching for Shredder, the next her heart stuttered in panic as she teetered backwards on the edge of the treacherous stairs… Droon had made her fall!

Something clicked into place. Shredder had known. That's why he'd been attacking Droon. He'd been trying to remove the threat.

Oh God.

Her face was buried in Shredder's chest, he sight blotted out by the warm black fabric, her nose filled with his scent. She could feel the heat of his body, feel his heart pounding against her face, and reaching her ears…. Was a series of sick snaps and an awful tearing sound, whether it was cloth or something else. It was horrible, horrible; she didn't want to hear anymore…

There was a final, deep thud that jarred Finny's bones, and everything went dark for a few seconds. She opened her eyes, and as she pushed herself upright she felt very warm… Hm, she was covered in blood. Her white shorts were soaked with cerise, her halter top stained crimson. Where was all the blood coming from? Not herself, surely, she wasn't in any pain… she shook her head to clear it a bit. Panic was screaming at the back of her mind, but why…?

Ah, she could hear wheezing breaths rattling at the back of someone's throat. The fog from the impact that had disoriented her cleared, and she suddenly knew who was at her side. She was afraid to look down, so she kept her blank gaze on the shocked faces around her for a moment. Oh, they were in the common room. Everyone spent their time here, mostly… they must have all seen the fall.

She finally dropped her eyes, looking down, and instantly wanted to throw up out of disgust, out of fear, out of sickening anxiety and panic.

Shredder lay on his back, mangled body struggling desperately for oxygen; his eyes were only half open and sightless with the nearness of death. His left arm was twisted into an unnatural position, white bone jutting revoltingly from his torn flesh half way to his elbow, fingers limp. One side of his torso was crushed in, all of his ribs broken, probably from that final impact. The fragments were likely piercing his lungs, causing that horrible… horrible gasping…

"Hey," Shredder rasped hollowly, blank eyes searching blindly, unbroken hand groping for her fingers, "Hey, Fin?"

"Y-yeah?" the water mage managed through her terror as she took his bleeding fingers between her hands, covering his long fingers tenderly with her own.

"You… alright?" he coughed, and a thin trickle of blood oozed from his lips as he turned to face her. He was still unable to see, but the sound of her voice demanded that he look in her direction. It was a pity he wouldn't see her pretty face, those calm gray eyes, before he left, but he was happy with just hearing her.

That was okay.

"Yes," Finny choked out, forcing back a sob.

"Ah…" he sighed, "that's good. You sound like you're fine." A thin smirk graced his lips, and he coughed again, the stream of cerise thickening.

"_Why would you DO this_?" the water mage screamed, finally breaking down and giving way to the flood of tears as people gathered around them and shouted for Galice, for Shade and Shine, for anyone who could help. Beyah was holding back a raving Ariss as the girl struggled to reach her only family member as he lay dying.

Dying…

"Well…. 'Cause I love ya, Fin," Shredder gave his trademark lopsided grin, and Finny noticed something. That awful rattle was gone. There was no breath.

And for him, that was okay.

It wasn't okay for her. Not at all.

She suddenly missed that death rattle. Ha, it was called a death rattle, but it was still a sign of life. While there was noise, there was hope.

Silence was loneliness and death in one.

She started screaming his name, over and over, again and again, grabbing at his shirt, holding his face between her hands. He was limp… dead.

"_You can't leave me here!_" she screamed at him as Kuma grabbed her around the waist and started dragging her away, "_You can't just go off on your own, idiot! Not after telling me that!"_

She had a brief impression of Galice running past her, grave face pale with fear as he rushed by, and then… nothing.

Finny sank into herself, hiding from the agony.


	20. Chapter 20

The End?

_Yrid, 1 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X784-_

Shredder was awake, but he kept his eyes tightly closed, and kept his breathing even as if still unconscious, taking stock of the situation. Firstly, his immediate physical reactions: his body hurt in every square inch, every breath felt like someone was pouring molten lead into his lungs, his head was throbbing like it had been crushed by an anvil….

Secondly, his surroundings: it smelled incredibly sterile, the sheets he was lying on were rough, and there was a breathing mask over his mouth and nose. He twitched a hand and… oh, yeah, there was an IV in his arm. Damn, he _hated_ needles… He could hear the steady beeping of a heart monitor, and the breathing of another person in the room. He was tempted to crack open an eye and find out, but he might not like the answer, so he kept his eyes shut.

He didn't feel like he could take much more shit at this point. Hell, whoever was sitting there might be a representative from the council come to tell him that as soon as his injuries were healed he would be transferred to the Fiore prison.

Damn it all.

Finally he could sit still no longer, his restlessness getting the better of him. He groaned as he tried, and nearly failed, to sit up.

"Oh, ow, ow, OW, _God why do I feel like I got hit by the Onibus Express_?" He shouted, his voice rough in his throat as he ripped the breathing mask off his face, the IV pinching the crook of his arm. Wincing, he ripped the IV out too, figuring it was better if that thing was out of his skin. Hey, what the heck, the arm with the IV had a cast on it too?

Glancing over, he saw Finny, slouched onto his bed, sleeping with her head on her arms and tears dried on her cheeks.

"Oh…" Shredder whispered. He'd thought he'd died going down those stairs… and then been, he didn't know, reincarnated? Well, at least he knew why he felt like such crap- ugh, that heart monitor was getting so _annoying_!

He tugged the pulse apparatus off his hand, and then snarled as the monitor simply switched from _beep… beep… beep…._ To _!_

"Man…" he groaned, putting his hands over his ears… oh, wait, his left arm was in a cast. Shredder sighed, frustrated with his inability to drown out the noise. Maybe he could just leave the room? Finny was there, and he didn't want to wake her up, she looked exhausted; given the weakness he felt in every movement, he used his better judgment and stayed in bed.

The door was suddenly thrown open, and a small crowd rushed in: Wish, Shade, Shine, Galice, a doctor, and several nurses, all looking stricken.

"I don't know what could have gone wrong, all his readings were normal up until now, Nurse Simons, run and get the defibrillator! I honestly don't know what caused this- oh." The doctor stopped shouting orders and looked dryly at the disoriented Shredder, then at the pulse detector which was no longer on his person, as well as the oxygen mask, and the IV.

Shredder blinked for a second, waiting until he stopped feeling so overwhelmed by the sudden and noisy arrival of so many people at once.

"Uh…" he said blankly, eyes jumping from one person to the other.

"Hn…." Finny sighed, waking up at last, "Shredder…?" he eyes snapped open. "Shredder!"

The knife master could have cut the energy in the room with one of his blades. To try and loosen the tension, he decided to pull a prank. A mean prank maybe, but hey, he was drugged. Cut a guy some slack, eh?

"Doctor," Shredder cleared his throat and stared at the man in scrubs, "Who are all these people?"

There was a shocked silence.

"He did have a head injury, and I informed you earlier that this might be a problem…" the doctor said with feigned calmness. Wish collapsed into a chair and put his head in his hands, Galice looked away and covered his mouth with one hand in an obvious gesture of distress, Shade and Shine clung to one another, using each other as support. Finny started wailing, burying her face in her arms, her sobs shaking the whole hospital bed.

"Whoa, shit guys, it was a joke," Shredder cried, raising his hands up to chest level in a sign of surrender.

"You jerk!" Shade and Shine yelled simultaneously. Galice simply furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance and gave a muted sigh while Wish started laughing tiredly in the corner. Shredder stared at Finny, who still hadn't moved.

The water mage unexpectedly threw herself onto his chest, bawling. Shooting pain spread from the knife master's ribs into his chest and he had a bit of a problem breathing for a moment.

"Owowowowowowowo! What are you doing?" he yelped.

"You could have _died_!" Finny wept, "You shouldn't be joking around! Do you have any idea how worried I was? You stupid… _stupid_…" she started crying harder, and Shredder just sat there, at a loss for words. He awkwardly patted the top of her head until she looked up furiously, causing him to flinch.

"If I didn't love you so much I think I'd hate you!" she yelled at him.

They stared at each other in total silence. Shredder felt like he was in shock and Finny was embarrassed out of her mind. There was no movement in the crowded room for a full thirty seconds before…

Shredder reached forward with his good arm, put his hand on the back of Finny's head, and kissed her. It wasn't anything like the friendly peck under the mistletoe either. No, it was a legitimate, full length kiss.

Shredder drew back almost shyly, waiting for her reaction. Finny furrowed her eyebrows and wiped her tears away almost angrily.

"Uh… feel better now?" Shredder wondered with his familiar smirk.

"No," Finny pouted.

"Oh… um, sorry then… why not? I mean, why don't you… feel… better?"

Wish had to cover his mouth to keep from snorting in amusement. This was the most awkward he had _ever _seen the confident knife master.

"That should have lasted longer!" Finny sulked. Shredder laughed out loud with relief.

"Oh," he grinned, "I thought I'd done something wrong! Never done anything like that before…" he rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment.

There was a small giggle in the corner of the room, and the pair suddenly realized that there was still a crowd in the room. Shredder groped wildly for a topic of conversation, almost literally before he came up with something more interesting than the logistics of his tableside lamp.

"So Doc," he said, almost casually, "How long will I be in… this?" he raised his arm, showing off the black cast that encased it.

"Ah, about four to five months if all goes well, and you'll be in an ankle brace for only about two weeks, your ankle dislocated…. Also, you will have to avoid any strenuous activity- no sharp movements, no getting more than a little out of breath, that sort of thing. Understand?"

Shredder gaped at the doctor and then put a finger in his ear to clean it out.

"Excuse me?" he said, hoarse with shock, "Four to five _months_? Without doing… anything? No jobs? No fights?"

"That is correct," the medical practitioner told him pointedly, "Certainly not any fights."

Shredder flopped back onto his pillows sadly.

"This is really going to suck."

…..

_Magnolia, beginning of the Dollhouse Incident, year X785-_

"Oh. My God," Shredder said jerkily, "I thought that would never end. Look at my arm! Look at it! It's _so white_."

"Okay, okay," Finny sighed, "I saw. Just be happy you got that cast off, jeez."

The knife master twitched with pent up energy, just waiting to go berserk. He was like a five year old on Halloween night, so full of energy they felt that they could run forever. In this case, Shredder felt like he could put a blade to _anything_ and pulverize it.

He wanted to do something, anything, and Shade and Shine had appeased him by assigning him a job… to deliver a letter. Probably not the best job in the world, but hey, it was all good. He got to get out of the guild for the first time in almost half a year, and that was A-okay with him. Plus, he got to see this mysterious 'Fairy Tail' guild that was run by that old geezer Makarov.

He grinned. They better be pretty damn good at fighting. He was itching for a brawl... he wouldn't kill anyone,of course, but he _desperately_ wanted a fight.

"Now look you," Finny said, narrowing her glittering gray eyes at her companion as Wish swayed sleepily beside her, "Best behavior! This is a mission to make allies, _not _enemies."

"Make enemies, got it," Shredder shot back rapidly, practically bouncing with hyper-ness.

"No! Ugh… look, Wish and Kiba, you go with Shredder and make sure he doesn't get into trouble," Finny directed as captain of their tiny team, "Kova and Kazin, go with them and take Mr. Connell with you. He's not looking to good. As for me, I'll stay here and get all of our bags off the train… and probably check us in to a hotel."

Kiba grunted in acknowledgement and started walking without another word, his wolves trotting after him like a slow moving avalanche. Kova and Kazin nodded in unison, reminding Finny instantly of Shade and Shine as the pair began hoisting Alzack with almost creepy teamwork. Shredder ran ahead, Wish following sluggishly behind him.

Shredder stalked through the streets, eyes feral with excess energy. His grin was doing nothing but creeping out the inhabitants of Magnolia, several people edging away. Shredder finally broke, eagerly lashing out in ecstasy.

He pounced at a nearby man, knocking him over with a wild laugh.

"Hey," the knife master growled, "where's Fairy Tail, huh?"

"I-I…" the man stammered, eyes fixed on the gleaming blade of the bone handled knife in Shredder's grip.

"Too slow!" Shredder cried gleefully, stabbing downward. Even as Wish's eyes followed the blade, he could tell that Shredder was aiming for a spot between the cobblestones. The people surrounding however, did _not_ know this. Many panicked and fled, fearing the knife-wielding madman, but a few stayed behind.

"Shredder…" Wish complained, freezing a group of people where they stood as they made plans to attack, "You're not supposed to cause city-wide panic…"

"But it's fun!"

"For _you _maybe!" Kiba snapped, his wolves forming a circle around him with their hackles raised.

"Fine," the knife master pouted, getting off of his prey. The man squeaked and began crawling away. Wish sighed and let down the magic time barrier once the three of them were a few streets away. "I just wanted to ask directions…" Shredder sulked.

"Don't need any," Wish said exhaustedly, "I'd say that building speaks for itself."

"Oh," Shredder said dumbly, looking at the building, "It's smaller than ours."

"Yeah, they probably don't live in-guild though, 'cause their guild is in a city," Kiba pointed out sullenly, his lupine eyes flashing, "It reeks here. I like it better back home." Indeed, his canine pack all had twitching noses as the acrid smell of the city burnt them.

"Let's go have some fun, eh?"

"Wait-!" Wish cried, too late as the boy darted inside. Kiba followed, wolves in tow, and left without any other choice, Wish went after them. "Finny wanted us to wait for her…" he grumbled.

Shredder kicked in the door, his black booted foot causing the door to fly open.

"Hey…" he grinned, his eyes wild and blade in hand, "this Fairy Tail?"

The group of mages inside stared at him as Kiba entered behind him, wolves threading through the gap in the door frame and forming a barrier in front of their master. Wish dragged himself in and plopped down in seat nearest to the door.

"Is Laxus around?" he slurred, already half asleep.

A blue haired girl shook her head and opened her mouth to reply, but as she did so, a white cat stepped out from behind her. Glacier raised his hackles, growling. This caused the rest of the pack to do the same, barking. At that moment, a black cat stepped in front of the white, obviously hostile.

"Back up a bit, Charle," Lily said lowly. However, before he even had a chance to return to his large form, Glacier lunged, teeth clipping the side of Lily's head as he tried to dodge.

"Hey!" cried a man with crimson eyes, multiple piercings and a mane of black hair, "Get away from Lily you damn mutts!"

Gajeel stepped forward, but he was stopped in his tracks as Shredder seemed to ricochet of the bar, landing lithely before the dragon slayer.

"Hey," the knife master laughed, "Up for a fight?"

The Doll House Incident, as it was later recorded by the Fiore branch of the council, had officially begun.

The End?

**A/N: And that is… the end of the story. Maybe not. If I get enough requests, I will be posting a bonus chapter of Shredder's proposal to Finny, post Doll House. If that doesn't happen, I thank you all very much for reading this story, and hope you all enjoyed it very much!**

**See you next time ;D**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Okay, so the story is officially over with this 'extra chapter'… I sincerely appreciate you reading this, and hope you enjoyed it. Thanks again!- MS**

Silver and Sapphires 

_Yrid, 1 year and 6 months after the Dollhouse Incident, year X786-_

Shredder paced helplessly back and forth in front of his bed, hands behind his back and color wheel eyes glued to the floor. The small box in the right pocket of his black jacket seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, dragging him down with fear, elation, anxiety, and despair.

Wish's eyes followed his friend back and forth from the comfort of a backwards chair in the corner. His chin was resting on the back of the chair, his curly hair hanging nearly in his brilliant violet-teal eyes. A ring of pale gold gleamed on the third finger of his left hand, and if one had checked, they would have found a matching ring on Shade's left hand as well.

"Sit down for God's sake," Wish yawned, "you're going to wear a rut in the tiles."

Shredder sat down and stared hopelessly at the time mage for about two seconds before he was out of his seat again. He was nearly trembling, and Wish had to take a large amount of his self control to do two things: stay awake, and not laugh.

"Wish," Shredder said hoarsely, "I'm going to do this. I'm going to." He got down tentatively on one knee, pulled out the small box and opened it, looking away fearfully as he did so, as if the gleam of the diamond ring in the case could blind him. "Will you marry me?"

"Don't ask _me _that," Wish sighed sleepily, "I'm already married, and not the one who needs to hear what you have to say."

"I was practicing, nitwit,"

"Oh. Well, go with something… I don't know, more elaborate. If you spring it on her like that she might panic and say no before she even thinks about her answer. Then where would you be, huh?" Wish shrugged, "Do what you want though; I can't claim to be an expert."

"Hell no you can't, you were half asleep through your whole proposal, dammit!"

"Mmm…. That's true," Wish murmured, eyes drifting closed, "But she _did _say yes, so I win."

Shredder glared at his teammate before turning away to face the mirror on the far wall of his room, presiding over his sink. He looked confidently at his reflection and took a deep breath.

"Listen, Fin, we've been together for a while now, and I was thinking…. Maybe we should take things to the next step," he began, keeping his eyes on his doppelganger and checking mentally for signs of fear. He was a very good actor, he supposed, because he was doing well… then again, he was talking to himself and not the object of his affections, so…

"I love you, Fin, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life… however long that may last- no, that last part makes me sound like I'm suicidal. Uh… I want to be with you for the rest of my life and think you're really… pretty? Beautiful? Ugh, no…"

The knife master stood there for a good hour, talking to himself until he figured he had the _perfect_ proposal prepared. He gazed at Wish in the looking glass as the time mage murmured in his sleep.

"Good luck," his friend murmured somniaclly.

"Thanks, best man-to-be," Shredder said with an uncharacteristically gentle smile as he shut the door softly behind him.

He could do this. He could do this. He could do this… right?

…..

Finny dug through her various purses, searching for her wallet. Surely she couldn't have lost her _wallet_? Oh that would be terrible! They had just gotten back from a job and been paid! She'd been hoping to go shopping for a new dress or something!

The door clicked open behind her, and without even turning around or looking up, she greeted.

"Hey Shredder," she called, sticking her arm up to her armpit in one of her seemingly bottomless bags. Okay, using magic to enhance the inner size of the purse _sounded _like a good idea…

"Are you looking for something?" he asked coming up beside her so that their shoulders brushed. He peered into the depths of her satchel and then looked at her blankly.

"Dear God," he said blankly.

"I'm looking for my wallet, and… hey!" Finny suddenly spotted the wallet, red and patterned with white waves, sitting on her white dresser, "Wow, feel like an idiot now."

She crossed the room and picked it up, stuffing it in her pocket.

_Okay, _Shredder thought, _we're alone, so if this goes badly, there's not anyone to see it… gonna ask._

The knife master put a hand casually in his pocket and opened his mouth when Finny looked up from slipping on her customary sandals.

"Hey, wanna go shopping?" she asked with an inquisitive smile, "I don't like going alone, but Shade, Shine, Stitches _and _Daisy are all busy…"

"Oh, uh, actually-…. Sure," Shredder sighed, not able to complete his sentence. He vowed to himself that he'd get the chance as he followed the girl out of her palely decorated room, the mesmerizing blue wave patterns on her bed spread seeming to mock him with their cheerful color of teal-gray, so like her eyes

…

"Wow! Look at this Shredder!" Finny cried excitedly, crouching down beside a window as they passed the pet store. The troubled young man turned, wondering what could have cause such a shrill note of adoration to enter her voice.

As it turned out, it was a window full of Jack Russell Terrier puppies, all jumping and yipping behind the sheet of glass as Finny pressed her hands against it.

"Look at the girl," Finny pointed out with a giggle, "All the other puppies have little brown eyebrows over both eyes, but she only has one… like she's winking!"

Shredder grinned and filed away a mental note: Finny liked puppies. The guild didn't ban pets, so maybe later… a birthday present… yeah, it was summer, close her birthday! But buying a dog would have to wait till another day, because the ring he had bought for her had taken all his money.

"Well," the water mage smiled, standing up and dusting off her knees, "I need to go by that dress. By, sweeties," she crooned to the dogs, who all wagged their tails. Shredder walked beside her as they made their way down the sidewalk, four-wheelers chugging along in the rhythm of the city in the background.

Both his hands were in his pockets, one wrapped around the tiny box that seemed to be made of lead. He looked over as a hand slipped through the crook of his arm, and saw that Finny had link herself to him. She rested her head on his shoulder, her blonde hair seeming to be spun of pure gold shining against the black backdrop that his clothing provided.

He smiled, removing his hand from his pocket and linking fingers with her.

He'd get his chance.

…..

"Um…. Do I look better in blue or white?" Finny asked him, holding each respective dress up. They were the same style, sun dresses with straps, dyed darker at the bottom and getting progressively lighter until they paled out to near white at the top.

Shredder struck a pose rather like an artist, hand on his chin stroking an imaginary beard.

"The blue one," he answered after some consideration, "it brings out your eyes." As he said this he made an exaggerated gesture, one that resembled a gay fashion designer extolling the virtues of design.

Finny giggled and complied, hanging the white dress back up on the rack and folding the blue one over her arm. Shredder followed the girl to the counter.

"I can pay for the dress," he offered, feeling rather awkward as he watched her count out the right amount of jewels to pay for the article of clothing.

"Hm? No, no, that's alright! I just appreciate you coming with me! I know boys don't like shopping," she dazzled him with her smile as the clerk took her money and printed a receipt.

"I, uh, don't mind," he replied, looking away. Finny laughed.

"If you say so!"

They walked out of the store, the bag swinging cheerily on Finny's arm. Shredder furrowed his eyebrows. He'd get his chance. After all, he'd rehearsed this in front of Wish a thousand times, and no matter how much the time mage laughed, he figured he had it right. He'd done it a thousand times more in front the mirror to boot.

He scrunched his eyes closed, and squeezed Finny's hand lightly. She returned the pressure, causing him to smirk.

Ugh, he had to do it now, before he lost the nerve! He was tired of waiting for his chance, it was now or never!

He stopped on the side walk, pulling Finny to a sudden halt beside him.

"What's up?" she asked, gray eyes clouding with concern as she saw the worried, almost agonized expression on his face.

"Listen, Fin… we've been… what I mean to say is… Oh for the love of God, I practiced all those times and I forget _now_?" The girl stared at him blankly, confusion written on her face. "Look, I'm just going to say it."

He placed a hand in his pocket, drawing out the small box.

"Fin, I love you. A lot. More than anything on this planet. I can't imagine spending my life without you… so…" he got down nervously on one knee. Man, this was no better than practicing on Wish, if anything worse. He was screwing this up so bad… "Will you marry me, Ms. Finny Wake Ellis?" he smiled with false bravado as he judged her reaction, the ring glinting in the sun.

It wasn't a traditional engagement ring. It was made of white gold, a sapphire set in the place of a diamond.

Finny's face went blank for a moment.

_Oh, that's not good._

Then her eyes filled with tears.

_Oh shit._

She took a deep breath as if preparing to yell.

_Damn… I really thought that maybe…_

"Yes!" she sobbed, collapsing onto the cobbled walkway in front of him and holding her hands up to her face to cover her blotchy wet cheeks, "Yes, yes, yes!"

Finny threw herself at Shredder, arms around his neck. He shushed her gently, holding her to him. He took the ring out of the box as she released her choke hold and slid it on to her finger where it shone brighter than the moon and bluer than the sea.

"Awwwww!" the crowd around them, unbeknownst to the newly engaged couple, had been inconspicuously watching the whole exchange. The pair looked around in surprise before exchanging glances.

Shredder grabbed Finny's hand and pulled her up to her feet. The pair nodded at each other before taking off running down the stone-puzzle road, laughing as they went.

Across the street, Wish blinked owlishly from a park bench. Nudging Shade, he pointed silently at the retreating pair. Shade smiled broadly.

At that moment, all of Fiore seemed to be running as it should have, the shadows that cover life cowering before the light that also permeates that clouds.

The marionettes that we call humans followed the script of a play called life, and the curtains of the story close… for now.


End file.
